


I Put a Spell on You

by BirdOfHermes



Category: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Awkward Crush, Banter, Counter Sex, Crush at First Sight, Crushes, Dark Magic, F/M, Flirting, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Magic, Oral Sex, Secret Crush, Sexual Tension, Teacher Harry, Teacher-Student Relationship, Unrequited Crush, Wet Dream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-05-28 06:08:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19388080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdOfHermes/pseuds/BirdOfHermes
Summary: Learning how to become a Warden is already hard enough, but Cassie's got her work cut out for her when she's also nursing a big, fat crush on her instructor: one Harry Dresden. Post Proven Guilty, loosely based on "AAAA Wizardry" from Brief Cases. Harry/OC.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You know all those times where I preface a fic with "no one asked for this"? Well, this time, I can safely say ONE PERSON asked for this. *glares at TheUnrealInsomniac* He enabled me and he is to blame for all of what follows. 
> 
> To be fair, this is just me goofing around with a concept. It's going to be just lighthearted kind of stuff, and as usual, don't mind the canon too much. We're just here to have a good time. And maybe I'm here to exorcise some crush demons I've got going on, but I digress.

_Oh no, he's hot!_

Harry Dresden was supposedly a lot of things. Dangerous. Irrational. Protective. Altruistic.

But nobody told me he was one tall glass of _fucking water._

Let me back up and explain. I'm a wizard. That sounds cool, but there were plenty of wizards out in the wide world, and I was nothing special. I'd been born into it, having a mother with the talent and a father who was aware of the supernatural world, and both of them wanted me to shoot for the stars. I'd decided that the best way to take care of myself and do some good would be to apply to become a Warden. Well, becoming a Warden of the White Council was the furthest thing from easy. It took years of practicing on your own, and then there was the actual training itself. Warden training was neatly divided into two areas: power magic and protective/defensive magic. Once you learned these areas, you also had to pass a written exam to prove that you knew everything you needed before taking the actual physical tests to prove it. So I'd enrolled in a twelve-week course for the written exam, as that was part one, and then I'd take the physical exams after qualifying.

I'd heard a lot about Dresden from the grapevine. The Merlin allegedly hated the guy. He stepped on toes all over the supernatural world, and the stories about him flew high and fast, most of which were entirely false but sounded very cool when retold. He'd tangled with dark things, and that was why the Merlin distrusted him, but not enough to turn him down for teaching us since the Wardens were short on volunteers thanks to the burgeoning war with the Red Court. I wasn't jazzed about being on the front lines, but I loved my parents and I could protect them by becoming a Warden. I was grown woman. I could do this.

Until I heard that deep, velvet voice proclaiming "good morning, class" and lifted my eyes to see an absolute masterpiece of a man.

Firstly, Dresden was tall. Ridiculously tall. NBA tall. He'd tossed his leather mantled coat onto the chair by his desk as he walked by on his crazy-long legs, and he could probably reach up and touch the ceiling without even getting on his tiptoes.

Secondly, he didn't dress to impress like a lot of the other Wardens I'd seen before. Something of a snobby status hung around some of the Wardens like bad cologne. Dresden had normal clothing--just a Led Zeppelin t-shirt, jeans, and boots. He had a silver pendant around his neck and a black glove on his left hand. Lots of people had speculated about the hand.

Thirdly, while his features were relatively average, something about them sucked me in immediately. Dark brown eyes, square chin, five o'clock shadow, messy hair that hung just above his brow, scars dotted in spots like over his eyebrow, along his forearms, and yet when he smiled, it just...lit him up from the inside. He seemed...warm.

Mr. Dresden was a fucking _snack and a half._

And here I was about to be with the guy for twelve freaking weeks.

Fuck me.

...Which is what I wished he would do right on top of his desk, to be honest.

Dresden had us go around the room and introduce ourselves, which is what most courses did in college, and I knew that since I had a degree in Chemistry that I'd snagged already. I was 24 years old, for God's sake, so I knew the score. Our course had roughly twenty students in it, so it stood to reason that we needed to get to know each other. I was trying not to fidget as each student spoke and he got closer and closer to me. By the time those brown eyes landed on me, I'd had to sit on my hands to keep them from shaking. I was the shy sort, unfortunately, and as soon as he looked at me, I got lightheaded.

"C-Cassie," I croaked, my face flushing as I heard my voice crack. "I'm Cassie."

Dresden nodded to me, that same warm smile on his lips, and glanced at the next student. I let out a long breath and shut my eyes. Christ. I'd have to nip this in the bud if I ever wanted to survive. _It's no big deal. So your Warden instructor's your ideal aesthetic. Happens all the time. You'll be fine._

Once we finished with names, Dresden gave us the rundown of the syllabus and everything we would need to know for the course. I wrote notes, but I also found myself almost sighing at the cadence of that baritone voice. It was like dark honey, rich and thick, and he spoke intelligently about the broad topics we would be going over. I kicked myself into paying attention again.

Like almost all first classes, it went by quickly due to just covering the syllabus, the first reading, and the expectations. I could hear some murmurs around me in reaction once he called it to let us go home to start studying. My classmates were my age or a little younger, and some of them I knew in passing from the area. None of them were my friends, unfortunately, so I'd either have to remedy that or just live with being unpopular like I'd been in school my whole life.

Dresden stuck around his desk in case anyone had questions, and a couple students did. I didn't want to make a fool of myself on my first day, so I packed up my bag and started for the door. Two girls were talking in the aisle, and consequently blocking me, and I said, "Pardon me."

They ignored me. I tried again. "Excuse me, ladies."

"We're talking," one of them said, rolling her eyes.

I rolled mine right back and grumbled under my breath, climbing over the stupid desk and hopping down on the other side.

My backpack zipper caught on the side and it ripped right open, spilling my books all over the floor.

I stood there for a second, fuming, and shut my eyes. "Goddamn it."

Growling, I knelt and scooped them together, cursing the rude girls under my breath, when the last textbook suddenly floated in front of my face. I blinked, and glanced up.

Dresden stood there, holding out a book to me, a friendly look on his face. "Cassie, right?"

Thank God I was a brown-skinned girl; that meant he couldn't see the rampant blush consuming my entire face. I accepted the book and tried to smile through my nervousness as I tucked it away in the backpack. "Uh, yeah, that's me. Thanks."

He offered his hand and I took it. He pulled me to my feet gently. "No problem. It's a shame not everyone in the world has _manners_."

Dresden didn't look directly at the rude girls, but they both blushed and scattered a moment later. He glanced at the door once they'd gone and shook his head. "You'd think by now people would stop acting like high school-aged idiots."

"Well, some people say high school never ends," I said. "They're not wrong."

He snorted. "Ain't that the truth? Just wait until you get to enjoy a council meeting or two. High school is alive and well in that joint."

I giggled. "That bad, huh?"

"The worst," he grumbled as he gathered his coat. We were the last ones in the room, so now he could leave. "Don't get me started on the Merlin."

"Oh, I've heard plenty about him," I admitted as we walked out of the room and he shut off the light. "I'm mentally preparing myself to anticipate bullshit."

"Then you're gonna do great here," Dresden said with a grin. "Because that's about forty percent of what you're going to deal with."

"Wow, I thought it'd be higher."

He shrugged a shoulder. "The other sixty percent is shenanigans and bureaucracy, so it balances out."

"You sound like you're trying to talk me out of it."

"Honestly?" he said as he held the door to the parking lot open for me. "I might be."

My eyebrows lifted then. "Why are you teaching this class, then?"

"Well, it's good to root the good apples from the bad ones, for one," he said, digging his keys out of his pocket. "You don't want unqualified Wardens throwing themselves out there and getting killed just because they can pass a standardized test."

He paused. "And because I think I'd be the world's most disappointing male stripper, so I've got to do something to keep the lights on at home."

I laughed, and he seemed very pleased about it. "Thanks for the mental image."

He winked. "You're welcome. See you next week."

He waved, and I waved back, before heading to an odd-looking Beetle with different colored doors and hood. It was rickety as hell, but it still turned over and he drove off.

Tall, good-looking, funny, and nice.

"Fuck," I muttered, shaking my head. "This is gonna be a long twelve weeks."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie tries to get in the groove of things.

The second week of the course only dug me deeper into my grave.

The comment about high school wasn't very far off, since when we returned, Dresden asked questions about the reading, and almost none of the students had done it apart from me and maybe four others. Dresden did not like that one bit. I didn't blame him. Warden work was no joke. Every scrap of information could either save your life or doom you to a fate worse than death, and he let it show that he was irritated that the majority of the class hadn't completed the assigned reading.

"We're going to get one thing straight today," he said, scowling out at us. "This isn't public school. Hell, this isn't even college. You are grown men and women. You are about to take on a role in which innocent lives are going to be in your hands. You need to decide right now if that is something you want, because if it is, then you will not be allowed any leniency from this point onward. This is not on an A through F scale. This is pass or fail. You do the work, you pass the exam. You don't, you're back out there on your ass. I don't award participation trophies. Got it?"

A frosty silence filled the air. Somewhere to my left, I heard a male student clear his throat. "With all due respect, Mr. Dresden, isn't that a little overdramatic?"

I sucked in a sharp breath. Oh no. This wouldn't bode well.

Dresden's head creaked around and his dark gaze fixed on my classmate. "Carter, was it?"

"That's me," the guy said. "From what I hear, most Wardens never see combat. It's about maintaining your district and playing nice with the rest of the council."

I actively tried not to cringe. Dresden remained silent for a moment and then turned to his desk. He shuffled through his briefcase until he withdrew a few papers with a paper clip in one corner and then he marched over to Carter's desk. He dropped the paper on it. "Know what that is?"

Carter shrugged a shoulder lazily. "No."

"That is the list of recently deceased Wardens," Dresden growled. "No, let me rephrase that. Recently _murdered_ Wardens."

The whole class blanketed in tense, uncomfortable silence. Carter lifted the paper, roaming over the names, and offered it back to Dresden. "Then it sounds like you really need us to pass, don't you?"

I shut my eyes. Fucking hell, this guy was a right _prick._

"With that attitude," Dresden said lowly. "The only thing you're going to pass is through the afterlife."

Carter didn't flinch, but I did see him swallow a bit. Dresden snatched the papers back and stalked to the head of the room. "Test next week. All materials covered from today and the next assignment will be on it. Each of you decide what you want before you come back, or don't come back at all. Dismissed."

He turned his back on us and packed up his things. He was gone before anyone could hit the door.

The next week, Dresden distributed the test, and it took the whole time slot for a lot of people to finish. He seemed a bit calmer this time around, like he'd given himself a while to cool off after that initial confrontation. I could tell he wasn't used to this sort of thing. I didn't blame him. Covering Chicago had to be a nightmare. They had a shitload of supernatural beasties, as well as organized crime, on top of all the normal bad things hanging out in the city. He probably had very little time for nonsense, especially from someone like Carter. I'd seen the guy in passing before, and he was spoiled blue blood. His parents were both Wardens, so of course their son would be groomed for the position. He sort of gave off a very Draco Malfoy vibe, down to even having blonde hair, if you can believe it. I very much hoped he'd flunk out early, but I was pretty sure life wouldn't be that kind.

On week three, Dresden handed the tests back, and reported that most of the class did well, with just a few stragglers. I'd pretty much obsessed over the material, so I'd gotten a high A on it, to my relief.

I'd been heading out when I heard Dresden call my name. I felt a shudder roll down my back. _Oh, no. Stop it, Cassie, stop thinking about how good your name sounds on that man's lips._

"Sir?" I asked, turning.

"Hey," he said, offended. "I'm not that old, you know."

I blushed. "Uh, it's more of a respect thing than an age thing. You are my instructor, after all."

"Fair enough," he conceded. "Just wanted to say good job on that first exam. You killed it. I don't think anyone else here scored that well. You might want to look into student teaching or tutoring. You really seemed to grasp the material."

"Oh, don't worry," I said, waving a hand. "It takes me a whole semester to have a meltdown and become a complete disappointment. Don't get your hopes up."

Dresden rolled his eyes. "Leave the self deprecation to me, if you don't mind."

I rolled my eyes right back. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it wasn't allowed."

He snorted. "Alright, Sassy Cass, just think it over, will you?"

I bit my lip. "The fact that I have zero social skills might get in the way."

"Social skills are overrated. Besides, eighty percent of all human communication is through body language anyway. You'll be fine, trust me."

Before I could stop myself, the words rolled right out of me in the voice of Ursula the sea witch. "And don't underestimate the importance of _body language_."

Dresden blinked at me and then burst out laughing.

Oh no.

He was even more gorgeous when he laughed.

"Not enough people appreciate the classics," Dresden said once he'd finished. "Kudos. See you next week, Sassy Cass."

"Same." I scurried for the door and went to my car. I slammed my head against the steering wheel several times. "Stop. Flirting. With. Him. You. Fucking. Dumb. Ass."

I leaned my sore forehead on the leather for a moment or two as my evil brain replayed that rumbling, pleasant laugh of his in high quality, high definition picture. Shit. How do you un-crush someone? Was that a thing? Maybe there was a spell for it. Hell, it was worth a shot at this point.

"An un-love potion," I snorted as I shifted gears. "Ain't that a bitch?"

* * *

By week four, it was all over but the crying.

For the record, there was no un-love potion. I checked. There were things one could do to incite rage or hatred towards a specific person, but good old fashioned attraction and lust might as well have been unbreakable when they happened naturally. I was stuck like Chuck.

On week four, the class fell into more of a rhythm. Any of the initial students who didn't really want to be Wardens dropped, leaving us at twelve instead of twenty, and that added a layer of almost intimacy to Dresden's teaching style. He knew the people here actually wanted to be here to learn, and so we dove deeper into each subject. Thanks to my neurotic studying habits, I remained one of the top performing students, much to my dismay. It meant that if someone answered wrong, most of the time, he'd wait for me to answer, and I would do so, and he'd give me that little proud smile before turning around to write it on the board.

And I was a sucker for that sort of thing.

My inner feminist bemoaned how much it pleased me when I answered correctly and I got those little nods of acknowledgment. It was ridiculous. I was a grown woman, not a teen girl, and yet with every praising gesture, my metaphorical tail wagged. I had to be honest with myself. I liked the attention. I liked the fact that someone appreciated my hard work and my mind, for once. It wasn't like guys were banging down my door to date me. I was painfully awkward and shy, and books and writing were pretty much the only things I was good at in life. If there was a part of the course on making conversation, I'd fail it immediately.

And my unfortunate condition worsened during one of our discussions. I had a question, and so naturally, Dresden came over to my desk to take a look. And he leaned right down next to me to point to the section I was having trouble understanding. And he smelled like leather and wood smoke and he was even more handsome up close. By the time he finished explaining, I could barely squeak out a "thanks" and vowed to never ask him another question for the remainder of the course.

We broke into groups not long after that little moment, and had to come up with a scenario in order to show an example of the type of magic that could solve the problem he'd given us. We took turns with our suggestions, and after I explained mine, I was given a rather nasty surprise.

"Well," Carter said from where he'd lazily arranged himself on one of the desks. "I say we go with whatever the Teacher's Pet says if we want to pass this portion."

For a few seconds, no one said a single thing. I stared at him. "Excuse me?"

Carter smirked. "Oh, sorry, it's Cassie, right?"

"Carter," one of the girls groaned. "Can you _not_ right now?"

"No," I said, holding out my hand. "By all means, continue. What the fuck did you just say to me, pretty boy?"

Carter's smirk widened and his blue eyes sparkled. "Look, it's not like it's a bad thing you caught Dresden's eye. I hear the guy hasn't gotten laid in forever anyway."

I slammed my textbook closed and made a beeline for him across the small circle we'd made with our desks. One of the girls cursed and called for help, and suddenly I felt a pair of large hands on my upper arms. I froze as I heard Dresden's voice behind me. "Whoa, what's going on here?"

"Yeah, Cassie," Carter said smugly. "What's going on?"

I took a deep breath and forced the tension out of my body, glaring daggers at the little shit. "Nothing. I just need a breather. I'll be right back. Sorry, Mr. Dresden."

I untangled myself from his grip and stalked outside of the classroom. I did a bit of pacing and kicked a garbage can just to expend the energy I'd wanted to use strangling that creep to death. Great. So not only was I already nursing a stupid crush, but I was labeled as a Teacher's Pet. That would surely go over great for my reputation. To say nothing of if Carter assumed I was sleeping with Dresden. Then I'd get to enjoy slut-shaming on top of it.

I shut my eyes and counted to thirty. This wasn't high school. I wanted to be a Warden. It would mean dealing with immature assholes like him. I couldn't lose my temper every time I got provoked. I'd just have to deal with it.

I turned around to head back in, and walked face-first into Dresden's chest. For the record, he was solid as an oak and very warm.

"Fuck!" I said, stumbling back. "Sorry!"

"Easy," he said, steadying me as I almost wiped out on the floor trying to get away from him. "I don't have health insurance, you know."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb the class, I just--fucking Carter--seriously, sorry."

"Oh, lay off," Dresden said. "Carter's a piece of shit and we both know it, so you don't need to apologize."

"I shouldn't have lost my temper," I sighed, raking my dark hair out of my face. "That's why I'm apologizing."

"Well, I tend to set things on fire when I get angry, so I can't really throw stones in a glass house," he admitted with a small smile. "What did he say?"

I blinked up at him. "Huh?"

"You were pissed," Dresden elaborated. "Like pissed enough to hit him. I need to know if I can dismiss the little prick for misconduct. What did he say to you?"

"Uh," I stammered. "It's, uh, not that important, trust me. He was just being a dick. Like in general, not a specific dick, just a generic dick, and why am I saying the word 'dick' so much, shit, sorry."

Dresden arched an eyebrow. "You sure? I'd really like to see the look on his face if I kicked him out of the course."

"Sorry," I mumbled, folding my arms. "Can't help you there. But I'm sure he'll give you another shot."

"True. Stupid is as stupid does." He paused, and I stared at my tennis shoes, my heart rabbiting my chest. I was entirely too nervous to look at him from this close. Then he might notice something was off about me.

"Really, though," Dresden said in a softer tone. "If he gets out of line again, he's gone. I don't care who the hell his parents are. Some people play favorites. I don't. If you change your mind, I'd be willing to hear you out, okay?"

I cleared my throat and nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

"Right. Let's go." He touched the small of my back lightly, gently, leading me back towards the classroom. I fought not to close my eyes to the simple gesture. God, I hadn't been touched in forever. This man would be the death of me at this rate.

His douchebag work already done, I finished with the group breakout session with Carter without further incidence, and the class ended. I was packing up my stuff and trying my best to talk myself out of hexing Carter's fucking cell phone, and I just happened to glance up as the blond idiot passed by Dresden.

Who surreptitiously stuck out one foot.

Carter took a spill on the floor. Hard. However, Dresden's foot had been hidden by the desk, so no one could have seen it other than me from where I stood. Carter shoved himself up, his face red with embarrassment, and stomped out of the room in the wake of laughter. Dresden sipped his afternoon coffee and gave me a little wink. I smothered a laugh behind my hand, shook my head, and left for the day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie gets a surprise or two as classes continue.

"Today," Dresden said as he handed out a stack of papers to be passed around. "You're going to write reflection papers on why you want to be Wardens."

The lot of us blinked at each other and then him. It hadn't really been discussed before. All of the material covered so far was hardcore magic, lore, myth, and methods. By now, some of us were in study groups, but we didn't actually know each other terribly well, so this was a left turn for us.

"You'll have a full sixty minutes to write, and I'll read them by next week. Don't think of it as an essay. I'm not looking for you to tell me what I want to hear. This isn't an application. I want you to genuinely think about why you want this position and then explain yourself in detail, or as much as you can within an hour before we move on to our next topic."

He paused and smiled a bit. "So for once, you guys can relax a little. Begin."

I stared at the blank page in front of me with it simple little question, "Why do you want to be a Warden of the White Council?"

Hoo boy.

Where to start?

For the first maybe five minutes, I just stared at the page, chewing my lip. How...did one articulate that sort of thing? Especially knowing Dresden would be the one reading it and evaluating it. No pressure.

I took a moment and just breathed deeply. The pressure slacked off after a little bit and I considered my motivations and where they'd come from. I had seen a lot of magic, some good, some bad, and I knew how to use it. I could make a lot of different things, and I wanted to be useful. I wanted to help, even though the thought of going to war with the Red Court sickened me. Taking a life would not be easy, and I might be asked to do that at some point. It wasn't as if this course was the only thing between me and a grey cloak. I still had a lot of work left to do, and that included training. It would prepare me for that life.

I exhaled and wrote the first sentence.

_I want to be stronger._

The rest of the hour wasn't as hard as the first several minutes. I was actually ready when Dresden called time for pencils down and he collected the papers. He completed the rest of the lecture and discussion, and dismissed us.

We returned the next week, and he gave our papers back with comments. Mine only had one.

_See me after class._

I gulped. Oh, fuck. What had I done now?

Naturally, I was a nervous wreck by the time we finished and everyone packed up to go. I took a deep breath and went up to his desk, willing my voice not to tremor as I glanced up at him. "You...wanted to see me?"

"Yeah," Dresden said, slinging his bag over one shoulder. "Walk with me."

I was confused, but nodded, and we left the classroom. He glanced at me and chuckled softly. "Jesus, Cassie, calm down, you're not in trouble."

I blushed. "Oh."

"You had some very interesting things to say in your reflection paper. I wanted to talk to you about them."

"Like what?"

"You're ridiculously smart, for one," he said. "Not that the other students aren't, but you're sharp. Perceptive. You're not so...linear, I guess. It's interesting that you wanted to become a Warden when you have a B.S. in Chemistry, for example. It's just surprising to see an academic be interested in the equivalent of the wizard cops."

I snorted. "I guess that is sort of what you are, huh? Like U.S. marshals?"

"It's not that far off," he agreed. "I don't doubt that you'd excel at it."

Dresden paused, and his gaze settled on me, and it was somewhere between inquisitive and worried. "But is that what you really want to do?"

I frowned. "I don't understand."

"There are a lot of other really great things you can do. Why this? Why become a Warden?"

"Well, you read the paper. I want to help. I want to use my skillset to protect people."

He nodded. "I get that part. But what you see in these textbooks and in these scenarios isn't exactly as cut and dry as that. Warden work is messy. And it's grey area. And..."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "...some of the stuff that you'll be asked to do isn't going to sit right with you."

"Doesn't every profession have that problem?"

"It does," Dresden agreed. "But this is different."

I stared up at him. I was sure he was trying to tell me something, but I wasn't sure what it was. Maybe he wasn't either. "Mr. Dresden, I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean."

He sighed. "Yeah, I know, it's not exactly coming out right. You're not the only one with bad social skills, allegedly."

He licked his lips, and I tried my damnedest to focus after that. "I think you could do a lot of good providing support for the Wardens. There's this entire network of wizards who investigate and give the Wardens information, and they go out into the field to make the arrests or fix the problems. I have a few friends I could call if that's something you might be interested in."

"So you do or do not think I'm cut out to be a Warden?" my voice came out harder edged than I meant it to, and he winced.

"You would be a helluva Warden," he told me firmly. "I don't doubt that one bit. I just...it occurred to me that the way the wizarding world is set up is that it makes it seem as if that is your only choice to advance. It isn't. You're a very dynamic woman, from what I can tell. I wanted to tell you that you have a lot of options available to you, more than you think. You can do anything, be anything, you put your mind to because that's who you are. In the end, you decide who you want to become. And you live with it."

He shook his head slightly. "The way things are going with the war now...I don't know, it...feels like maybe people are being manipulated or misled to choose this path. I wanted to be sure you knew that so I could get to sleep at night."

My pulse quickened. I chewed my lip, wondering if I had a right to ask. "You were worried about me?"

He cleared his throat. "I wouldn't go that far, but the thought crossed my mind."

We came to a stop by my car, and I had barely even realized we'd been slowly walking the whole time. I jolted myself out of my thoughts enough to try to salvage a response. "I appreciate it, Mr. Dresden. You're right. I do think a lot of us are being corralled into becoming Wardens to fight for their cause. It's not ideal and it's definitely not safe."

I took a deep breath and steeled myself as I looked up at him. "But I want it."

Dresden gave me a long look and then nodded. "Okay. Worries availed."

He opened the car door for me. I flushed, flattered by the gesture, and climbed in. "Thanks, Mr. Dresden. See you next week."

He gave me a nod and a little fond smile. "See you next week, Sassy Cassie."

* * *

Unfortunately, my stupid animal brain decided to take the "see me after class" in a direction that it obviously hadn't gone in real life.

_My knees almost knocked together as I walked up to Dresden's desk. We were all alone. I stared at the floor as he walked back towards me after shutting the door and he sat down in the seat._

_"Cassie," he said softly._

_I swallowed hard. "Sir?"_

_"You've been staring at me, Cassie," Dresden said softly, lifting those dark eyes up at me with a little smirk on his lips._

_I blushed profusely. "I...I haven't, I swear."_

_"Yes, you have," he murmured. "You've been staring at me and I want to know why."_

_"I-I wasn't," I protested. "I promise I wasn't."_

_He clucked his tongue as he undid the sleeves of his white button up shirt and rolled them up over his forearms, strong and lithe and a little tan. "I was hoping you'd be honest with me, Cassie. I'm disappointed to see that you don't want to tell me the truth."_

_He flicked his gaze up at me again, and crooked a finger. I blushed even harder and walked towards him. He patted the desk. "Sit."_

_It was an odd request, but I took off my backpack and sat on the desk, utterly confused and more than a little flustered. I'd worn a skirt and thigh highs today, and it rode up my thighs when I sat, so I crossed my legs to keep from being indecent in front of him, trying not to wring my hands nervously._

_"Is there something wrong with me?" Dresden asked. "Is there something wrong with my face, Cassie?"_

_"N-No," I mumbled._

_"Mm. Is there something wrong with my body?"_

_"No, Mr. Dresden."_

_"I see. Do I smell funny?"_

_"No, Mr. Dresden."_

_He sighed. "Well, you must hate me, then."_

_"I don't!" I protested before I could stop myself. "R-Really, I don't. It's not that."_

_"So," he said slowly, his eyes glinting with mischief. "If you don't dislike me, then you like me, is that right, Cassie?"_

_"I..." My throat tightened. "Um...y-yes, I guess so."_

_"Can I tell you a secret?"_

_"S-Sure."_

_Dresden sat up in the chair, and slid one warm hand around my right calf. It bled through the thin material of the stocking and made me break out in goosebumps all over. I didn't dare look down, rather staring at him in shock as he leaned towards me._

_"You're a smart girl," he said, sliding that same hand up towards the back of my knee. "I like smart girls."_

_I shivered as his finger rubbed the spot underneath me knee. "T-Thank you, Mr. Dresden."_

_His other hand slid up my left calf to the back of my knee as well. "Are you a good girl as well, Cassie?"_

_"I...try to be."_

_He unfolded my legs and then glided his hands up until they reached underneath my skirt. My eyes almost rolled back in my head, it felt so fucking good. He hooked one hand inside the thigh high and slowly dragged it down my leg. He watched me with that same steamy little smile as he lowered his mouth enough to kiss the inside of my knee. I bit my lip to keep from moaning. "And what stops you from being a good girl?"_

_"Ridiculously attractive wizards, for one," I muttered before I could stop myself._

_He laughed softly as he pulled the other thigh high off and kissed the other inside of my knee. "What a coincidence. I have that same weakness."_

_I trembled as he kissed higher and higher one inch at a time, the skirt sliding up towards my hips as my body tilted to be supported by my hands on the desk. His tongue flicked out, hot and wet, once he reached the spot beside where my panties were. He stood then and reached underneath my bottom, gripping the lace and dragging it off me in one smooth motion. He stepped between my spread legs and pushed them up and back towards my chest. I knew exactly what he was about to do, but my voice didn't want to work and he was so tall and handsome and I couldn't deny that this was exactly what I wanted him to do to me._

_His mouth descended on me, his tongue passing over my wet outer walls, and it was heaven. Absolute fucking heaven. I shuddered hard and moaned out his name, burying my hands in that soft, dark hair as he carefully started licking and sucking over and over again--_

I jumped in my seat as someone's knuckles rapped against my desk.

"Cassie," Dresden said with strained patience. I blinked several times and realized I'd completely drifted off in the middle of the lecture, and based on the intense stare he was giving me, he'd been calling my name a few times. "Number nine's not going to answer itself."

Dear God in heaven. I'd just had an entirely filthy daydream about the man _in the middle of class._

I cleared my throat and peered at the board to catch up to where we were. "Uh, silver shavings, rosemary, lemon rind, and lavender."

"Thank you," he said, and then gave me a little teasing grin. "And please be sure to grab a coffee before our next class, if you don't mind."

"Y-Yes, Mr. Dresden," I mumbled, wishing I could sink through the floor to the center of the earth. At least then I could die a quicker death than of embarrassment to what I'd just done. Just how many weeks did I have left of this course?

Too many. The answer is _too many._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief interlude for Cassie and Harry Dresden.

One thing that was the same for both learning to become a Warden and getting a B.S. in Chemistry was me stress-eating before a midterm.

Hey, don’t look at me like that. Every man has a vice, alright?

Mine just happened to be doughnuts.

There was an absolutely delicious local doughnut shop that knew me by name after my long stint getting my degree. I tried my best to jog off all the calories, and to try to avail myself of guilt, and found myself amazed how one course somehow felt just as bad as having to take three or four at a time in the non-magic part of the world.

“Cassie,” Virgil grinned. “Cute as ever. What’s gotten to you this time? More school?”

“Ugh, always,” I groaned as I dug through my purse for my wallet.

He shook his head. “Poor thing. What can I get you?”

“Oh, the lighter order out of my usuals.”

He beamed at me. “Two original, two blueberry coming right up, sweetie.”

I handed him a $20 and he rang me up, chuckling. I eyed him. “What?”

“Something else has got you frazzled,” the old man said as he handed me my change. “I can tell. What is it? Man trouble?”

“Ha!” I said. “Gotta have a man for that first. They don’t exactly fall from the sky, you know.”

He laughed. “Oh, you never know, kiddo. Sometimes life just has a way of making things happen when you least expect it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Old and wise are not the same thing, you know.”

He blew a raspberry at me and I cackled. “See you next time, troublemaker.”

I took a walk to Millennium Park with my doughnuts, already having made coffee in a thermos, and plopped somewhere not too near the Bean before cracking open a textbook. I’d gotten a third of the way into the reading when a shadow fell across my book, and someone cleared their throat.

“Not interested,” I said without glancing up. I wasn’t supermodel good-looking, but I wasn’t half-bad either, so I’d gotten plenty used to the shitty guys of Chicago cat-calling or making bad passes at me in the park. Most lost interest with one gander at my perfected Resting Bitch Face.

“Come here often?” my would-be suitor asked.

I heaved a sigh and then threw a glare. “Piss off, you—”

Dresden grinned down at me, lifting an eyebrow as if daring me to finish the sentence. “Yes?”

“Fuuuuuuuck,” I groaned in embarrassment. “That is _not_ funny.”

“It’s kind of funny,” he protested.

I rolled my eyes, and then noticed the mountain of grey fur at his side. My eyes lit up and I went from surly to girlishly gleeful in about half a second. “You have a _dog?!”_

“Technically he’s a dog, but I still think he’s part horse,” Dresden explained. “This is Mouse.”

“Hi, Mouse!” I cooed, sticking out my hand, palm flat, to let him sniff. Mouse’s tail wagged. The giant dog sniffed and then leaned forward enough to let me have a go at his ears. I scratched them enthusiastically and his tail wagged harder, faster, and his tongue caught the side of my cheek since we were damn near the same height with me sitting.

I laughed and wiped off the slobber with a napkin. “Someone’s friendly.”

“Yeah, when you’re that cute, girls let you get to first base awful quick.”

I snorted. “Are you trying to say I’m easy, Mr. Dresden?”

He clutched his chest with the hand not holding the leash, affronted. “I would never, madam.”

“Uh-huh.” I couldn’t help giggling as Mouse went after the leftover icing on my fingers with gusto. “Well, he’s apparently just like any other guy: he’s only after me for my sweets.”

Dresden choked on a laugh. “Guys are basically dogs, only slightly less furry and obedient.”

“Slightly? You’re giving your gender a lot more credit it than it deserves.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

I offered him the doughnut box with my non-slobber-covered hand. “Might I indulge you?”

“You might,” he said, and grabbed an original doughnut. He took a bite and sighed wistfully. “Now I’ll never fit into my prom dress.”

I laughed again. “Sorry. I’m an enabler at heart.”

He ate half and gave the other to Mouse. “I’ve heard worse crimes. How goes the studying?”

I blew a lock of hair off my forehead, glaring at him. “Murderous. It’s a good thing I don’t have a social life or I’d have a very pissed off boyfriend from the long hours I’ve put in already.”

Dresden eyed me. “What?” I asked.

“Pardon me for saying so, but I’m trying to figure out how on earth you’re single.”

I gave him a wry look. “You don’t have to fluff my feathers, you know. I’m fine with it.”

“That,” he said, taking a seat next to me and unclipping Mouse’s lead. The enormous dog began making rounds sniffing my shoes and nearby flowers and bushes. “Was not feather-fluffing. I’m genuinely puzzled.”

“I really am not a people person.”

Dresden shrugged and pulled a worn out tennis ball from his pocket, and chucked it. Mouse barked happily and chased after it. “Don’t have to be. It’s just one guy, right? Can’t be too hard to find someone with similar tastes.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re assuming that I want one to begin with.”

“Touché,” he agreed. “It’s just surprising, is all.”

“Not every guy likes sass, and that’s kind of ninety percent of my general person.”

“Sass is an acquired taste. Like sushi.”

“You sound experienced in the area.”

“The main export of Harry Dresden is sass, so yes.”

I tried not to giggle. “Yeah, I picked up on that early. God bless whatever woman, or man, puts up with you.”

“Woman,” he said by way of clarification. “And there isn’t anyone putting up with me right now either, for your information, Sassy Cassie.”

I almost groaned again. It was like he was somehow zeroing in on the exact things to tell me to make me like him even more. Now that I knew he was single, the chances of my crush going away pretty much evaporated. I wanted to kick him in the shin about as much as I wanted to kiss him.

“To be fair, you are objectively terrifying,” I told him. “Dating you would be like dating an Ent.”

He peered down at me. I lifted an eyebrow. “What?”

“I’m just trying to verify that I heard you correctly. I don’t meet enough women who reference _Lord of the Rings_.”

“Try Comic Con.”

“Best dating advice I’ve heard so far. God bless geeky girls.”

I was going to die. I just knew it. My brain begged me to come up with an excuse to leave, but I was a glutton for punishment. Sure, I’d only make it worse if I stayed, but…truth be told…it was nice to be out somewhere with a guy, even for a chance meeting.

Mouse returned with his ball and plopped it into my lap. Dresden grunted. “Hey. You’re not authorized for that kind of behavior, fella.”

“It’s okay,” I assured him, and tossed the ball for Mouse. “Little drool never hurt anyone.”

“My shoes beg to differ. I swear he ate one whole last month.”

“Oh, _God_ ,” I wheezed, glancing down and confirming that his shoes had more than a few bitemarks on them. “Sorry about that.”

“Tell me about it. You have no idea what a pain in the ass it is to find size twelves in this city.”

My dumb animal brain prodded me. _You know what they say about a guy with big feet..._

I ignored my brain as I lobbed the tennis ball again for the dog. “You could always go Hobbit-style.”

Dresden grinned at me. “Guess I could, huh?”

Our eyes met, and for just a second, I felt… _something_. Some kind of…spark, maybe. Warmth akin to the sunlight flooded over me, and I realized maybe it wasn’t as simple as a crush on my teacher. Maybe it was a little more than that, as stupid as it sounded.

Dresden’s lips parted, as if he were going to say something, but then he cleared his throat and broke off his gaze with me. “Ah, I should probably let you get back to it. Midterm’s pretty hefty.”

“Uh, yeah, thanks for…the drool, I guess.”

He stood, chuckling softly, and whistled for Mouse. “Anytime. Good luck, Sassy Cassie.”

“See you later, Mr. Dresden.”

He waved and headed off into the sunlight. I was still smiling by the time I went home that afternoon.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie's life gets flip turned upside down.

I fell into studying for the midterm hard enough that I looked up and it was after eight o'clock and I'd forgotten to go grocery shopping, so I threw on some clothes and hit the supermarket. It was a normal enough night and I didn't think much of it until I'd been walking from where I parked my car in the covered, designated spot and my instincts screamed that something was wrong.

One unfortunate thing about being a wizard was that there wasn't a handy dandy school for it like in the Harry Potter books. Sure, there were things you could formally learn, but for the most part, the supernatural community just sort of fended for itself with mentors or groups. I'd learned most of what I knew from my mother, and some of her peers in my late teens. No one could teach you everything. Some stuff you gleaned from experience.

And my instincts told me I was being watched.

By something that was not human.

I didn't change my gait. I didn't tense up. I just focused on the long, dimly lit parking garage and the heavy metal door that led to the elevators. In the meantime, I drew in will power, as much as I could, and tried extending my senses to see if I could locate the problem while I headed for an exit. Several yards out and to the right, I felt a cluster of dark magic. Something pulling the darkness in around it like a shroud so that I couldn't see well.

The lights leading up to the exit door sputtered out. Fuck. Someone wanted to keep this quiet.

The dirt stirred underneath a car two aisles over from me. I took a deep breath. Now or never. Life or death. Don't screw this up, Cassie.

I counted to three, and then yanked a Veil up over myself.

A moment later, a creature pounced in front of me.

It was a _fucking Malk._

It wasn't huge; about the size of a German shepherd. It appeared to be young, based on its musculature and the size of its claws. It had leapt out expecting to chomp me, but I'd vanished, so it stood stock still on its paws, snarling in confusion. Its tufted ears flipped back and forth trying to hear me, and I held my breath, praying the plastic bag of food in my arms wouldn't clink together to give me away.

The Malk's nose twitched as it began sniffing for me, and I knew I wouldn't have long. It was still an animal, and it had superior senses.

I carefully loosened my fingers around the bag of food, counted to three again, and then lobbed it as hard as I could at the nearest car. It smacked a Toyota hard and the bag spilled items every which way. The SUV's alarm went off and it shrieked like a wounded animal. The Malk snarled and darted towards the commotion on instinct alone, and that gave me just enough time to dive into action.

I spun on my heel and sprinted for my car. Going inside would only risk hurting others, and there was no guarantee the Malk couldn't cross my threshold. I had a few basic wards up, but certainly nothing powerful, more just to warn me of if someone bad was on their way in. I couldn't fight this thing, but I could possibly outrun it.

The Malk wasn't stupid, either. I made it halfway there when it heard my tennis shoes on the pavement and came barreling after me. I wasn't going to make it. Its claws scratched into the ground and then I heard a pause.

"Shit!" I ducked and skidded on my ass just in time, and the Malk sailed over my head and bounced off a nearby Hyundai. Christ. That would've taken my head clean off if I hadn't ducked. I rolled to one side and shoved myself up, hitting the key fob to unlock the passenger's side. I ripped it open and dove in, but the Malk caught my ankle. Searing pain seized my left leg. I screamed and kicked it in the nose as hard as I could, and wrenched the heavy car door shut, locking it. The Malk screeched and rammed the glass. It glowed bright yellow in the shape of several sigils, and then all the windows in the car lit up as well. Thank God for my mom.

I scrambled to shove the key in the ignition and shot out of the parking space, tires squealing as I headed for the exit. The Malk bolted after me as I pulled onto the street and gunned it down to the light, honking furiously as I was forced to make a right turn on the wrong color light. I had no idea where to go, but I needed to lose this thing or kill it. I wasn't picky about either option.

I weaved in between cars and checked my rearview mirror to see the Malk on top of the cars behind me, punching dents into their hoods, its deadly fangs glinting in the reflective lights. A truck blared its horn, distracting me, and I slammed on brakes, narrowly avoiding it. I heard a sickening crunch, and the top of my car bent down towards the top of my head.

I swatted the glove compartment and my wand fell out into my free hand as I drove around the cars to try and make it to the highway ramp. The Malk's claws sheared through the rooftop and wrenched the metal back. It couldn't get its head through, but one arm slipped down and sliced open my shoulder.

Gritting my teeth, I snarled a spell in its direction and its front left leg caught fire. The Malk yowled in pain and snatched its limb back, but didn't let go of my car. I punched the gas pedal down to the floor as I made it to the highway, and prayed to God I wasn't about to get myself killed. I rolled down the window and pointed my wand at the ground, waited, and spoke one word just as the car rolled underneath the highway sign.

The car bounced up twenty feet into the air at nearly sixty miles an hour.

And the sign scraped the Malk off my car like a windshield wiper with a bug.

"Suck it!" I howled in victory as I heard its neck snap and watched blood splatter onto the ground below.

Oh.

The ground.

Shit.

My car slammed into the pavement as it landed, and it wasn't like the Blues Brothers or Smokey and the Bandit. The airbag deployed. My head ping-ponged between it and the seat and I lost control of the vehicle.

And consciousness.

The next several minutes I couldn't tell you what happened. I remembered blood. I remembered pain. I remembered my phone in my hand. Then nothing.

* * *

Then I opened my eyes, and I was staring at the most gorgeous man on God's green earth.

He had shoulder-length raven black hair and grey eyes. His skin was alabaster and smooth, unnaturally smooth, super model smooth. He had full lips and a furrowed brow, and as my vision cleared, I could see his gloved hands were hovering over my forehead. His expression softened as he noticed my eyes were open, and he gave me a gentle smile.

"Well, hey there, Sleeping Beauty," he told me in a deep, silken voice tinged with humor.

"Wow," I muttered in amazement as I stared at him, my head full of cotton, my limbs limp and liquid, my body fuzzy. "Haven't had this dream since I was sixteen years old."

His delicate brows rose. "Pardon me?"

Something inside me ached to touch him. To feel him. Something told me he would be exactly what I wanted, and it didn't sound like me, but it was very convincing. My God, he was exquisite. Before I knew it, I'd reached out to touch the side of his chin, and the moment I did, an almost painful yearning filled me from head to toe.

"So do my pants come off now or later?" I asked, and the handsome stranger chuckled.

"Ah, I'm sorry to tell you this, sweetheart, but you're--"

I kissed him. Oh, my. Wow. Wow, wow, _wow_. His lips were so soft. The voice in my head got louder. _Touch, touch him more, kiss, feel, taste, devour, surrender, give him everything._

The dark-haired man sighed gently into my mouth, his tongue swiping my lower lip, and then he pulled back. "--awake," he finished, his voice a little huskier, his eyes somehow a couple shades lighter grey than they had been a moment ago. I blinked at him slowly, owlishly, trying to remember what he'd said as my entire body screamed at me to kiss him again.

"Wait...I'm awake?" I asked. He cleared his throat and nodded.

I shut my eyes. "Goddammit. I am so sorry."

"Not your fault," he said. "I've been trying my best not to touch you, but I didn't count on you waking up woozy halfway through."

"Halfway through what?" I glanced down and noticed a few more things now that I could think about something other than wanting to jump the male supermodel. My shoulder was swathed in bandages and so was my ankle. I was lying in a large bed with rumpled, cheap cotton sheets. I didn't recognize the room at all. Mickey Mouse alarm clock. Stone floor with rugs on it. Some clothes strewn about. No electric lights, just candles.

"Uh," I said. "Where, uh, where am I?"

The door opened. Dresden stood there, frowning in worry. "Thomas?"

"Ah, good timing," the male model said. "She just woke up. She's talking in complete sentences now, so I think it's only a mild concussion. She's all patched up, but you definitely need to take her to get chest X-rays once you figure out what's going on."

Dresden nodded to his friend. "I called Butters and he said he can see her this afternoon."

Male model Thomas tucked the items back into the First Aid kit, stood, and then offered his gloved hand to me. "Thomas."

"Cassie," I said, shaking it briefly as I very carefully sat up and took stock of myself. I wasn't wearing the pants I'd been wearing at the grocery store; instead, I had on men's boxer shorts with the cord pulled to fit my waist. "Please tell me you're the one who took my pants off."

Thomas laughed, and I wanted to bottle it and pour it over some pancakes later. "Yes, I did, and I apologize, but the jeans had to get trashed and burned so whoever sent that Malk after you couldn't use the blood to track you here. I didn't peek, I swear."

"Well, that's disappointing."

He grinned. "Oh, I like her already."

Thomas regarded Harry. "Keep it short. She probably needs to rest again with that bad bump on her head."

Dresden nodded. "Thanks, man."

"My bill will be in the mail," Thomas sniffed, and then pulled the bedroom door shut behind him.

"Uh," I started. "Hi."

He relaxed a little finally, smiling. "Hi. Do you remember anything yet?"

I paused, frowning. My thoughts were...scattered. Pieces. Fragments. "Grocery store. Drive home. Something went wrong. It...was loud. Something chasing me."

Dresden exhaled. "Good. That's better than when you called me."

I blinked up at him. "I called you?"

"Yeah," he said, and pulled a chair from the corner of the room to sit across from me. "You called me and said something attacked you, and you couldn't go to the hospital because you thought it was some kind of a hit, maybe. You were under a Veil when I got there, hiding from the cops while they were trying to figure out what happened in the car wreck, and I brought you back to my place."

"Okay," I said, nodding, and wincing as my head ached sharply. I reached up and felt a bandage on my forehead. Oh. Great. Yeah, Thomas had said something about a concussion. "Can't believe I called you. How'd I even remember your number from the syllabus?"

He smiled faintly. "Smart girl, remember?"

It faded a moment later. "Someone sent a Malk after you."

I swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah. They did."

"Is there anything you need to tell me?" he asked quietly. "Anything important? Summer or Winter Court associations or alliances?"

"No," I said. "I've never known anyone from either Court."

"Anyone in your family?"

"I could ask my folks, I guess, but as far as I know, no."

He ran a hand through his hair. "There wasn't much I could tell from a glance at the body, and I had to get you out of there as fast as possible. Best way to figure this out is investigating backwards from the attack. See if there's evidence you've been followed, for example, or--"

"Wait," I said, holding up a hand. "You're not gonna do this, right?"

Dresden arched an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "Um, because you don't know me? And I could get you killed?"

Dresden snorted. "You have no idea how often this sort of crap happens to me. It's just another day at the office."

I struggled with words for a moment. "Mr. Dresden--"

"Harry," he said, his tone mildly amused. "Any girl who bleeds all over my sheets gets to call me Harry."

I blushed, stupidly, before I could stop myself. "Harry, this is my problem, not yours. I don't want you dragged into my mess."

He gave me a rather stubborn scowl. "You called _me_ , remember?"

"I had a concussion," I said, frustrated. "My brain was scrambled eggs. You were the last person I saw. I don't know what's going on, but I know I don't want to get you involved. It could get us both in trouble."

"A Malk tried to eat you last night, Cassie," he said sharply. "You're already in trouble."

"And maybe I can get myself out of it," I countered.

He squinted at me. "Ten bucks says you can't get out of that bed right now."

I glared. Then I pushed up onto my feet and walked towards the bathroom.

And I blacked out after three steps.

When I came around, I was back in Harry's bed, and he was tugging the sheets up to my shoulders. My eyelids were heavy. But I still managed to mumble, "See? Told you so."

Harry chuckled. "Fine. I'll pay you when you wake up. Get some rest, Sassy Cassie."

He didn't have to tell me twice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So, the cell phone thing! I had this idea that there's something she wears that channels the energy she naturally exudes as a wizard so that it's not projecting around her until she chooses to use it, sort of like a barrier between her and the cell phone. I was originally going to stick it in a chapter, but then I forgot because I got wrapped up in writing, so this is a footnote for those who are wondering. Sorry about the confusion.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the attack.

_I kissed Thomas, and this time, he didn't stop me._

_I moaned as he brushed his tongue against mine and slid my arm around his neck, tugging him closer to the edge of the bed. The dark curtain of his hair tickled over my forearm, enticing, and I brought my other arm around as well. I heard a little snapping sound of him tugging off the gloves, and then he rose enough to climb into bed with me. His heavy, lithe frame settled on top of me, and his hands roamed down my sides to my legs. He stroked the outside of my thighs, drawing gasps from me, and toyed with the hem of my borrowed boxers._

_He was just about to pull them off when the door opened and Harry appeared._

_We both froze._

_I didn't know what to say. But Thomas did._

_"Harry," he said, smiling. "Care to join me? There's room for one more."_

_I gaped up at him in shock._

_"Well," Harry said in a low voice, smirking slightly. "I don't have anywhere else to be right now."_

_My jaw dropped even further as Harry shut the door and pulled off his shirt. Oh my God. Oh my fucking God. His bare chest was...phenomenal. Lean, but well-muscled, some scars dotted over it._

_Thomas scooted me over enough to let Harry onto the bed, and Harry's arms wound around my stomach to bring me back against that magnificent chest. He kissed down my neck as Thomas returned to kissing my lips and pulling off my shorts._

_Then, for some strange reason, Thomas tilted my head and licked the entire side of my face._

I woke up sputtering in confusion, and found myself staring up at Mouse.

I groaned and collapsed back onto the pillow, wiping my face clean. "Goddamn you, furball."

He whined a little, sniffing my shoulder as if worried, and I just sighed and patted his head. "No, no, I'm not really mad. I'm just...disappointed."

I flushed as I recalled what I'd just been dreaming about. "And horny, apparently."

Mouse cocked his head slightly. "Don't ask. I have screwed up priorities."

I took stock of myself a second time. My head had a dull ache. My shoulder and ankle stung when I moved, but not if I kept still. My ribs felt very tight, like I was wearing a corset. I turned the Mickey Mouse clock towards me to see it wasn't long after seven o'clock in the morning.

The door to Harry's bedroom--oh God, don't overthink that--was cracked, and light from the hall slanted in across the floor. I could hear the murmur of voices. I carefully lowered my feet to the floor and took cautious steps. I didn't black out this time. Go me.

I walked over and paused, listening.

"--might need you tonight, not sure. Depends on what I find. She can take care of herself, but I'd like someone around just in case things escalate."

Thomas snorted. "I noticed. I mean, a Malk? By _herself?_ Shit. Girl's going to be a hell of a Warden someday."

"She's still got a ways to go, but yeah, she's tough. Smart, too."

Thomas cleared his throat. "And apparently, nosy."

I frowned, and then yipped as Harry reached out and pushed the door the rest of the way open. I fidgeted for a second. "Heh. Sorry. But to be fair, you were talking about me so technically, it's minding my own business."

Harry snorted. "Uh-huh. Hungry?"

"Starved, actually."

He offered his arm and I smacked it away. "I'm fine. I can walk."

He rolled his eyes. "We saw how well that worked out last time."

"Yeah, well, I'm standing around in my teacher's underwear," I said with a scowl. "I'm trying to scrape up the most amount of dignity possible, if you don't mind."

Harry actually _blushed_. It was...fucking cute as hell. "Look, I'll get you some clothes in a bit, alright? It was all I had."

"Uh-huh," I said in the same tone he'd taken with me, and made gradual, wobbly steps towards the kitchen. I paused on the way and glanced at Thomas, wincing.

"Sorry again about the...you know."

He gave me a steamy little smirk that raised my heart rate, his tone teasing. "Don't be."

"Thomas," Harry said, glaring.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." He pulled on a leather jacket. "Be good, kiddies."

Thomas paused with the door open, and then gave Harry a wicked grin. "And hang a sock on the doorknob if need be."

"Get out," Harry growled, and Thomas laughed as he closed the front door. Despite my slow progress, I arrived in the kitchen to find a bag of Burger King and a hot coffee awaiting me.

"Come to mama," I muttered to the coffee as I sat at the table and wrapped both hands around it. I sipped it black, and then added half and half and sugar that had been sitting next to it before digging into the bag for a crossandwich. "Thanks."

"Welcome," he said as he sat across from me.

"So who is Thomas?"

"A friend."

I nodded. "And what is Thomas?"

"White Court vampire."

I nodded again. "Sounded about right. He's very...distracting."

Harry snorted. "Trust me, I've noticed. I'm the invisible man every time we're in a room together."

 _Oh, Harry,_ I thought to myself. _You wouldn't think that if you'd seen my dream just a while ago._ But I wisely said nothing in reply.

Mouse wandered in and plopped down near my feet, giving me the old begging dog eyes as I ate. I laughed and tossed him a tater tot, which cheered him up. Harry watched me eat with a neutral expression, as if contemplating something. I must have looked a hot mess, and I wasn't enthused about the fact that he'd seen me concussed and bloody and unconscious. Not exactly a mental image one forgets.

"I look that bad, huh?" I muttered morosely.

"I've seen worse. Hell, I've been worse."

"You're staring."

"I'm thinking."

"Care to share it with the class, teach?"

He smiled a little mysteriously then. "Not at the moment, no."

I finished breakfast and sat back, crossing my arms and matching his stare somewhat. We couldn't lock eyes for too long on account of a Soulgaze, so it was tricky but doable. "Am I under house arrest?"

"No," he said, leaning his forearms on his knees and linking his fingers. "That's not how I do things. You're free to leave at anytime."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "But?"

"But," he said. "I'm still going to look into this. I have to. It's not a coincidence that you're working on becoming a Warden and something came after you."

"You don't think it's the Red Court trying to preemptively prevent me from being a problem someday?"

Harry shook his head. "No, logic doesn't track. They don't mess with the Winter Court if they can manage it. Too many arbitrary rules and too much backstabbing. This is something else."

"Who would have motive?"

"Depends. Tell me about yourself."

"Well, I like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain."

Harry scowled. "You ought to take this more seriously, Cassie."

"Harry, why are you doing this? Really? You're a P.I. You haven't asked me for a single red cent and yet you seem gung-ho about chasing down a lead for someone you barely know."

"I know you enough to not want to see you get hurt again."

My breath caught then. I fought not to fidget nervously. "Oh. I...didn't know that."

"Cassie, I wouldn't have shown up when you called if I didn't care," he said quietly. "You were in trouble. Maybe we're not friends, but you're a good person and I can't stand by idly when something like this happens to a good person. I want to help. It's that simple."

I knew I was being stubborn. Getting hurt tended to make me withdraw. I didn't want anyone to worry about me or see me as weak. We were a bit late for that, honestly. I did probably need his help, but it would just make everything that much harder.

I bit my lip, my heart hammering wildly in my chest, and gently touched his hand where it rested on his knee. I risked a glance up at him, my voice hoarse, and said, "Thank you for saving my life."

Harry smiled. "You saved your life. I just helped."

"Fair enough."

He squeezed my fingers. "You're gonna be alright, Cassie."

"God, I hope so." I stood and took a deep breath. "Can I wash up?"

"Yeah, bathroom's through there. What do you need?"

"A fifth of scotch and a hug," I lamented. "But for now, just some clothes, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and soap."

Harry chuckled, and then shocked me completely by pulling me into a brief, but warm hug. "Good enough?"

I hid my face in his chest so he couldn't see me grinning my ass off. "Good enough."


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie recovers, and she and Harry make a plan.

While I certainly appreciated Thomas tending to me, I did lament the fact that he didn't do anything about my shirt. The blood from my shoulder had soaked into my shirt and my bra, which he hadn't removed out of politeness. After I cleaned up with borrowed soap and a washcloth, I took both off with a sigh and filled the sink with cold water, watching it soak for a bit in disappointment. The shirt I didn't mind if it was beyond saving, but the bra would be a loss. It was up in the air if it would come out of that kind of material, and bras were not cheap. If they were, then they were the kind that would unravel and shred within a month. And this one had been Victoria's Secret, dammit.

My theory about looking a hot mess was correct. There was a knot on my forehead above my right brow covered by a bandage and a cut running parallel to my eyebrow. Part of a bruise still showed in the center of my forehead as well, and my brown skin was a couple shades lighter than normal from the blood loss. My ribs had bruises stamped across them as well as my upper stomach. My ankle had swollen from the bite and from moving around, and I'd probably have a limp for a week or two.

That being said, I did feel better once I was clean, and having rested and eaten jogged small bits of my memory.

_"Cassie?"_

_I couldn't move. My head hurt too much. Shit, everything hurt, if I was being honest. I'd been using every bit of strength to stay conscious and keep the Veil on me where I lay in a ditch behind a long row of shrubbery. I'd managed to drag myself from the car after it crashed and hide since I didn't know if there was some kind of lookout._

_Dresden floated into my line of sight. I exhaled in relief and dropped the Veil. He knelt beside me and the worry on his face made me feel guilty as hell. He tilted my head very gently, examining the cut on my brow. Blood painted one side of my head, sticky and warm, and some of it smudged on his fingers. He passed his hands over my abdomen, quickly checking for any other cuts and bruises, then noted my ankle before he spoke to me. "Can you move at all?"_

_I shook my head weakly. "Okay, I'm gonna get you to my car. It's gonna hurt a lot, but I've got you."_

_Dresden scooped me up. I cried out in pain and buried my face against his shoulder, trying to muffle it so no one would hear. Tears leaked down my cheeks as my head swam with unbelievable pain, my ribs protesting, my mangled ankle on fire._

_"You're gonna be alright," he murmured as he lifted me. "Hang on, Cassie."_

That was the only bit I could recall. I must have passed out in the car. I shuddered thinking about what would have happened if he hadn't picked up the phone.

I heard a couple knocks on the bathroom door. "Hey, I'm back."

I jumped a bit, still nervous, and opened it before I remembered I'd taken off the borrowed clothes, and thus was _only in a towel._

Harry stood there with a small plastic bag dangling from one hand, offered to me, and then he glanced up at me.

And promptly dropped it.

"Sorry," he said immediately, and stooped to pick it up. He handed it to me and cleared his throat, averting his gaze politely. "Toothbrush and toothpaste are in there as well."

"Thanks." I shut the bathroom door and bit my lip, trying not to giggle. Alright, well, that was an accident but it was kind of cute. But we had work to do and I needed to focus, so I got dressed. As luck would have it, he'd gotten me a black tank top that had one of those self-bras built in, and matching jeans and socks. Having no sleeves helped since the bandages on my shoulder were thick and kind of bulky, restricting much movement.

I found him in the den scribbling something on a notepad. "My phone's dead. Mind if I use yours? By now they've towed my car and run my license plate, so I'm sure my parents are freaking out."

"Sure, go ahead, but just be careful what you tell them."

I smirked as I picked up the receiver to his monstrous rotary phone. "Yeah, that I'm having a sleepover with the infamous Harry Dresden. I'm definitely going to tell them that part."

He shook his head at me, saying nothing. I dialed my mother's number by heart, and she picked up on the second ring. "Hello?"

I inhaled and just went for it. "Uh, hi, Mom."

"Cassandra," my mother snarled. "You...I...do you have any idea what I've been through in the last several hours?"

"I can probably guess," I said, not hiding the guilt. "Sorry. Really. I know it had to be hell, but my phone was dead."

"What happened? Where are you? Are you okay?"

I ran a hand through my hair, giving myself a second to sift through what I could say. "There was just an incident, that's all. I'm someplace safe, and I'm okay. I don't exactly have all the details of what happened yet, but I will soon, and I promise I'll tell you once I get to the bottom of it."

"Baby, are you in trouble? You know I can help."

"I know you can, but I do..." I bit my lip, deciding on how to phrase it. "...have someone in my corner right now and I think between the two of us, we can handle it. I don't want this reflecting back on you at all. I'll get it worked out."

She sighed. "Don't worry about my reputation. I don't give two shits about it. Just you."

"I know. But you can trust me. I'm not in over my head yet."

"Mm," she said in that skeptical tone of hers. "Are you sure about that?"

"One hundred percent."

"Really?" she said in a facetious tone. "Is that why you're calling me from Harry Dresden's phone?"

I went stricken. "Uh."

"He's a Warden, Cassie," my mother said patiently, disapproval under her voice. "We have each other's contact numbers."

Busted. Fuck, fuck, _fuck_. I buried my face in one hand. "I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?"

"Not even remotely," she confirmed. "He's a wild card and he's reckless."

"He saved my life." Well, I was stretching the truth a little bit, but that shut her up. She heaved a sigh and I could picture her rubbing her sinuses.

"You have twenty-four hours," she said finally. "To get this mess in order and to give me some kind of report on it. If by then you haven't fixed it, I'm going to do it myself. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Alright, sweet pea. Dad says hi. I'll let him know you're okay, and we'll take care of the car. Just...be safe. And..." She paused.

"What?"

She coughed slightly. "I know Dresden is a little on the... _attractive_ side, so keep in mind he is your superior."

I stomped my foot. "Mom!"

"Whaaaaat? I know you, Cassie. You like them tall, dark, and brooding!"

"Okay, this conversation is over," I growled.

She laughed. "Fine, fine. Call me as soon as you get something. Bye, baby."

"Bye, Mom," I hung up. I muttered darkly under my breath and turned to see Harry apparently fighting off a smile at my expense.

"That went well," he said, and I pointed at him in warning.

"Don't start. Now what's next?"

"We need to retrace the steps leading up to the attack," he told me. "Do you remember much yet?"

I plopped down on the couch and shut my eyes, concentrating. A moment later, I felt something heavy press down on my thighs, and I found myself staring at a male stub-tailed cat damn near the size of a bobcat. He sniffed my nose, and then butted his head against my chin. I grinned and started petting him, and he flounced down on my lap as if he owned it. I didn't mind. It was helping me think.

"I don't think I was followed to the grocery store," I said after a bit. "I'd have noticed. It wasn't until I got out of the car in the parking garage that I knew something was off. Whoever sent the thing knew where I lived."

"Agreed," Harry said. "And the fact that they used a Malk implies a couple of things as well. First, they wanted it to get written off as an animal attack by the mortal authorities. If this was just about you being dead, a gun would work just fine, but it's not. They must not want it to look like a hit. Second, using something from the Winter Court instead of Nevernever implies the person either already owed a favor or now owes a favor. They're in debt, and the Winter Court takes that pretty seriously. What we want to find out is if this attack is about you or if it's about your mother."

"How do we do that?"

"If someone sent the Malk, they'd be within the area to make sure it did its dirty work. They'd know you escaped. Someone's probably sitting on your place right now."

I arched an eyebrow. "You want to walk into a trap?"

"It's not ideal, but the culprit is likely there and we can put a stop to him or her if we go."

I relaxed a little and he gave me a look of confusion. "What?"

"I was worried you were gonna do that thing that guys do where they want to protect the girl, and you were going to tell me to stay here."

Harry paused. "Not gonna lie, I thought of that first, but I was pretty sure you were going to break my nose if I even suggested it."

"And you were right," I sniffed. "So thank you. I take it you want me to be bait, then?"

"It's the fastest way to get them to show their hand. I'd accompany you, but whoever it is probably would recognize me and know to turn tail."

"Plus, it wouldn't be great if anyone saw you going into my apartment," I added. "We don't need people making references to _The Graduate_ while we're at it."

He snorted softly. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know how that would look, and it wouldn't be flattering for either of us."

Harry suddenly sat up straighter and squinted at me. "Wait a second. Is that what Carter said to you that day in class?"

I cringed. Damn, I so hadn't wanted him to figure that out. I just sighed in defeat. "Yeah."

"That little..." He clenched his teeth. "I swear, I really hope I meet him in a dark alley someday."

I choked on a laugh. "At the rate he's going, you probably will. I have an extra rusty spoon if you want to help me scoop out his kidneys and sell them on the black market."

"Dark, slow, and painful. I like it. You've got yourself a deal."

We shook hands and then we left to go find my would-be killer.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie and Harry investigate her apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder: I am literally fudging most of the magic and lore, so do not sweat the canon.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes," Harry said with a straight face as he shut the driver's side door to the Beetle. "I'm born with it. It's not Maybelline."

I rolled my eyes. He gave me an easy smile and nodded. "Go ahead."

I crossed my arms and peered up at him. "No offense, but how do you know this whole thing with me isn't some kind of honeytrap?"

Harry stared at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable, same as mine. "The thought crossed my mind."

Interesting. I prodded him. "When?"

"When we bumped into each other at the park. I'm not the kind of person who believes in coincidences."

"And yet here we are," I said. "I'm not assuming you trust me, but why are you going out on a limb for me?"

"When you do this stuff for long enough, you develop a gut instinct," he said, tucking his hands into the pockets of his giant duster. "Both as a wizard and as a P.I. And you notice smaller things. I can't always tell when someone's lying, but I can tell when they're being genuine with me. And you are."

He cocked his head slightly. "Why do you ask?"

"Just to put my own selfish worries at rest," I admitted. "I hope you don't do this sort of thing often."

"More often than I'd like," he conceded. "But that's the problem with having a soul. I want to help, even if it's not the safest or most logical thing to do."

"You should definitely look into becoming a soulless monster. I hear it's profitable."

"I'll make a note of it. Ready?"

"Nope," I said, untying my hair from the ponytail it was in and fluffing it out in a slight attempt to make me harder to recognize. "Not even slightly. Is that normal?"

"Completely normal." He laid a hand on my uninjured shoulder and stooped a little so I could meet his gaze. "You won't be able to see me, but I'll be nearby. I've got your back, Cassie."

He didn't have to tell me that. I knew. But he had because he cared. He was a good man.

God, did I want to kiss him right now.

I nodded. "Okay. Good luck."

He squeezed gently. "Ditto."

I started to leave, but then I noticed him reach into the backseat and draw out a staff almost as long as he was tall, and I couldn't help giggling.

Harry lifted an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing," I said innocently. "I just always thought you exuded big stick energy."

He pursed his lips at me, but I could also see him trying not to laugh. "Get going already, smartass."

I shouldered the borrowed bag and headed out of the parking garage around the block from my apartment building. The second I was out of Dresden's line of sight, I broke out in a nervous sweat. Someone wanted to kill me, and they were watching the area. I could die right now.

No pressure.

It took a lot of doing, but I didn't let it show on my face as I steadily limped my way to the apartment building. The good news was that between my mother and Warden training, I knew what to watch out for as I went. There were a lot of scary beings in our world, but like normal people, they had tells. Small signs to watch for to tip you off, like the lights going out when the Malk had appeared. Being observant meant the battle was half over, so I kept my senses as open as possible and made myself simply see the world around me. So far, so good. Nothing on the way in, at least not from my perspective. Dresden would be the one to tell me if my surroundings outside of my line of sight had anything suspicious.

I rode the elevator to the ninth floor of my building and took a deep breath. The elevator doors opened on my hallway. I kept my shoulder against the doors so they wouldn't close, closed my eyes, and pushed my senses out before taking a step. No booby traps, no spells. Phew.

It was mid-morning, so by now most of my neighbors had gone to work, leaving me alone. Good, I wouldn't need cover. I went to my door and popped a few borrowed items out of my bag, and then raised my palm over the door. I felt my wards there.

And something else.

An entangled spell embedded within them. I wasn't experienced enough to know what the hell it would do to me, but nothing good for sure. Harry had suspected as much, hence the borrowed items. I set them up, tried a couple things, and then gave it a whirl.

I didn't die, thank God. Harry's suggestion canceled all of the magic out, meaning I'd unfortunately have to start all over with new wards, but it also meant I wouldn't be killed by whoever the fuck made this embedded spell on my door.

Once the wards and the attacker's spell were gone, I flattened my hand to the door and tried to Listen. I wasn't very good at it. I had concentration issues. I managed to hear through the hallway and the kitchen, but the bedroom was beyond my reach. I cursed under my breath and weighed my options. As he'd said, we wanted to draw the attacker into plain sight but they might be stronger or faster than me, and I'd risk getting killed if I went inside on my own.

I gave up on Listening and instead tried for something else. I slipped my fingers beneath the door and felt around for a little spot on the carpet. I felt the telltale bump and touched a finger to it, and the magic network I'd set up bounced along the floor to each room to connect a circuit and then circle back to me.

And there was dark magic in my bedroom.

"Fuck," I muttered, and withdrew my hand. Something was waiting for me in there alright. Great.

I packed up and hustled back to the Beetle to meet Harry, whistling on the street as he'd told me to do. He reappeared a moment later from another direction and read the look on my face. "Bad?"

"Something's up there. Not sure what, but it's in the bedroom. And you were right about the wards. Someone meddled with them."

He nodded. "Figures. I kept an eye on you going in and there's no one outside of the building from what I can tell."

"Think it's another Malk?"

He shook his head. "They're nowhere near that patient. It would've been on you as soon as you went for the front door. It might be whoever set this up decided to do it in person. They might try something less violent, like arranging it to seem like a suicide."

I shuddered at the thought that someone had invaded my home, and anger followed the fear in a hot rush. "So what's the plan?"

He took a moment to think it over. "There's no telling who or what the hell is in your room. We'd be stupid to try a frontal assault. If your place was properly warded up, then they might have used a portal of some sort to get in and out. They'll catch on if you don't come back after a certain point, and maybe we can follow them. Your bedroom window's facing a hotel, right?"

I eyed him. "Yeah."

"I might have an idea on how to get a look, then, and quietly. It just might sound a little weird."

I gestured at him. "Well, go on, spit it out."

"I have a small friend who might be able to get something into the room to let us see, but we have to be in the same proximity since it's short range. It'll be brief, but we would be able to at least lay eyes on the perp."

I stared at him. "Meaning we'd book a hotel room. Together."

Harry sighed. "Yes."

"Mr. Dresden, you're trying to seduce me."

"Don't start," he groaned. "I know what it sounds like, alright? Now do you want my help or not?"

"Considering the alternative is gruesome death, sure, why not? Let's go for it. I just have to ask: is this going to be on the final?"

"Cassie, I swear to _God_."

"Is it an oral exam?"

"Get in the car, woman."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie and Harry put their plan in motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again: me, making shit up that's probably not in the Dresden Files canon. Relax.

I'm renting a hotel room with my teacher and crush, Harry Dresden.

Life is fucking _cruel._

I wasn't made of money, so I didn't live in the super nice parts of Chicago. The hotel across the street from my building wasn't anything nice or fancy either. It was a no name brand hotel, a local set up, and while it wasn't seedy, it sure as hell wasn't the Ritz. Harry had loaded some stuff from the trunk into his bag as well as mine and we went in with the minimal amount of ribbing with each other, since we both knew this was just going to be awkward as hell. The clerk didn't help matters; after he gave us the room, he smirked at Harry and muttered, "Nice," to him and I wished I could set the guy on fire with my brain. Judging by the death glare Harry gave the guy, he shared my sentiment.

 _We're trying to catch a murderer,_ I told myself on the elevator ride up. _It's no big deal._ _The hotel room is just a convenience, and you won't be there long anyway. Supposedly. You're an adult. You can handle being in one small room with the dude you're crushing on. Alone. With a bed._

God. I should have let that Malk kill me.

The only thing that distracted me as we made our way to the room was the extra large pepperoni pizza Harry had bought shortly before. My stomach rumbled. I wanted to attack it like a shark, but he'd told me we needed to wait before we could dig in, and that it was somehow connected to the plan.

Harry opened the door with a key card and gestured. "Ladies first."

I snorted. "Now who's the smartass?"

I walked into a relatively decent-sized room that to their credit was at least clean, even though it was nothing special decoration-wise. It had a dresser, a flat screen, and a desk, and the bed was in the center. I could hear the bed cackling mockingly at me as I walked over and set the bag down, trying not to picture myself and Harry on it having a good old time. I failed. Twice.

"Right," I said, pushing up from a squat and turning around to face him. "Where do we start?"

Harry jumped very slightly, as if I'd broken him out of a train of thought, and cleared his throat, shutting the door. I felt confusion for a brief second, but didn't press the matter. "I need a few minutes to get set up. Can you go into the bathroom until I call for you?"

"O-kay," I said, raising my eyebrows. "That's...the weirdest thing you've said to me today, but I'm sure we'll beat that record soon enough."

"Hardy-har," he replied. "Now shoo."

I grumbled under my breath and retreated to the bathroom. I shut the door and perched on the tub, snagging an outdated magazine sitting on the commode. I could hear Harry rummaging around in the room, so at least I knew he wasn't yanking my leg.

Then, of course, my brain decided to replay the previous moment in perfect high definition, slowed down so that I could notice details that I hadn't before. Like the direction his eyes had been in when I'd turned around.

_You know he was staring at your ass, right?_

"Shut up," I muttered to my dumb animal brain, idly turning a page. "He was not."

_He absolutely was and you know it._

"He wasn't, and even if he was, it doesn't matter. It's not going to happen, now hush."

_Except it could and you just don't have the guts to try._

"Yes, because it's a monumental bad idea and would not work out for any of the parties involved."

_Oh, please, it's not like you want to date him. Just, you know. Tear off a really good one with him._

"We are not having this conversation. It's not happening. I'm not gonna fuck my teacher. End of discussion. Shush."

_...I wonder how flexible he is--_

"Would you just--"

Harry knocked on the door. "We're all set."

"Thank God," I sighed, and opened the door.

And then I almost jumped right out of my skin as I realized we were no longer alone.

A small fairie about six inches long with pink hair floated in front of me, a cheerful smile on his little face, his cheeks smudged with tomato sauce and pepperoni grease. He wore what appeared to be armor made out of little bits of trash and things, and was one of the cutest fairies I'd ever seen in person. "Hi!"

"Oh," I said, blinking. "Hello there."

"This is Toot Toot," Harry told me. "Toot Toot, this is Cassie."

I stuck out my first finger for him to shake, which he did enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you, Toot Toot."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady Cassie," he said seriously. "As I am with anyone under the command of the Za Lord!"

I arched an eyebrow and glanced at Harry. "Oh?"

He waved a hand. "I'll explain later. Toot Toot, I have a job for you."

Toot Toot saluted him. "Whatever you need, my lord."

Oh, goodness, this was too cute. I fought a smile off my face as I watched the interaction. "Across the street, exactly, there's a room with an enemy in it."

"Ah, I see," the fairie said, his eyes flashing. "You wish me to vanquish this foe?"

"No," Harry said, and I was impressed he kept a straight face. "But I do need to find out who it is, and I need them not to see you."

He reached for the bed and held up a small mirror shard with a sigil written in Sharpie. He glanced at me. "Cassie, I need a hair, if you don't mind."

I plucked one and handed it to him. He tied it to a long corner of the mirror shard and offered it to Toot Toot. "I want you to be as absolutely quiet as you can and slip this under the windowsill and into the room. Leave the second you get it through there. Understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"And mind the glass, it's sharp," he finished, and then offered it to the little guy on his palm. Toot Toot scooped it up with care and I opened the window for him.

"Be careful," I told him, and he grinned at me.

"Fear not, my lady!" Then he was gone in a flicker of light.

I straightened up with a grin. "I need to hang out with you more often."

"I'll take 'Words Women Never Say to Me' for $200, Alex," he replied, and then beckoned me. He held up a round hand mirror that had a piece missing that was the exact shape of the one he'd given Toot Toot. "This is something I threw together for surveillance. I call it a Snapshot spell. If you have an entry into a room and a connection to it, you can get one perfect shot of the interior. It'll only last about 30 seconds, but it's worked before. Assuming they don't have a Veil, we should be in business."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. How long will it take?"

"Toot Toot takes his orders very seriously, so it should just be a minute or two, but you never know." He sat on the bed and I sat next to him, the mirror between us. I had to concentrate on paying attention; he smelled nice. Was he...wearing cologne?

My brain wanted to run with that, and I shut it off immediately.

A few minutes ticked by. After a bit, I started getting a little restless at the silence and my mouth ran away before I could stop it.

"Jesus, is that what I look like when I don't sleep?" I frowned, noting the bags under my eyes in the reflection. "I could audition for Rocket Raccoon."

"What did I tell you about self deprecation?" Harry asked mildly. "Stop horning in on my business."

"Oh, please, like you've got the market cornered on that. All you need is to brush your hair and get some more sunlight and you can audition for GQ."

He choked. "Oh, is that right?"

Shit, I'd stepped in it now. Might as well go for it. "Come on. You can't tell me you think you're unattractive. Please don't be that guy."

"Hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you know."

"And you beholdin' a lot, okay? That's all I'm saying."

Harry sputtered for a second. "And you _aren't?_ "

"Eh, I do alright for myself, just not at present."

"I choose to blame your conclusion on the concussion. You're..." He searched for a word. "Fantastic on the eyes, in case that's not clear."

I snorted. "Now who's concussed? I'm a five on a good day."

He shook his head. "I know all women do this, but it still makes no sense to me."

"Good, then we're even, because I hate your entire face. And body. It's extremely distracting. You have no idea what it's like trying to pay attention in class."

He scowled at me. "You're just trying to get an A, aren't you?"

I glanced up at the ceiling in exasperation. "Men. If listening were crackers, you'd all starve to death."

"And," he fired back. "You'd be on the floor right next to me, starving to death. You're certifiable if you think you are anything short of incredible."

"Well, so are you, you big idiot!"

We both stopped dead and stared at each other in realization. Oh, hell. I'd just...and so had he. I hadn't been imagining things. I wasn't sure when it started, maybe the first time we talked after class, hell, maybe when he'd first picked my book off the floor, but there was something there. It didn't have a name or a purpose. It was just a vibe. A wavelength. Subtle but still there, like a powerful, well-woven spell.

Speaking of which, the mirror suddenly trembled.

We both looked down as the glass made a tinkling sound and then a bright flash filled the air. When it faded, I could see the inside of my bedroom. It had pale blue walls with some framed posters of family and geeky things that I liked, a couple dressers, a nightstand with a lamp, and my Queen-sized bed. Nothing looked out of place.

Except for the pale man standing in front of the doorway, a smile on his face, holding up a sign with crudely written handwriting that said:

**HELLO, DRESDEN**

"Shit!" Harry hissed. "Go, we've got to go _right now_."

"Wait, who is that?"

He yanked me to my feet and headed for the door, but we'd only got a couple steps before something flew through the window and then everything went dark.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things fall apart.

I woke up wet and freezing cold.

My shaking limbs jolted me out of unconsciousness. I lay on the floor, in roughly half an inch of water, and I could hear it dripping around me. It wasn't easy to see, but there was faint light in the corners of what appeared to be a long, narrow space of some sort. It had to be close to freezing in here, no doubt about it. I could barely feel my fingertips, so I guessed I hadn't been here all that long.

My head hurt, but that was nothing new since the car crash, so I blocked the pain as best as I could and shoved myself up on my hands. My eyes adjusted to the dark, and I spotted a motionless form nearby, too long to be anyone but--

"Harry!" I crawled towards him, ignoring the pain in my ribs and head, and flipped him onto his back. He lay still, but I felt his chest rising under my fingers, and breathed a quick sigh of relief. I gave his cheek a firm slap, and he grunted, rousing a moment later.

"Sorry," I muttered as he blinked up at me. He sat up as well, rubbing his head, and then gave me a glancing over.

"You okay?"

"Not even remotely," I said through my shivering. My bare arms and soaked clothing were not handling our current situation well. "But lucky you. Wet t-shirt."

Harry let out a hoarse little laugh. "Yeah, lucky me."

We both stood up and glanced about. I knocked the wall nearest me. It was metal, very thick metal at that, and bits of ice clung to my knuckles. The sound echoed, but not too far.

"Shipping container?" I asked, and Harry nodded.

"More than likely. No one can hear us outside of it."

We shuffled to both ends, testing them, but we could hear the bar on the outside clink at one of them. We were locked in tight, wherever the hell we were. We both checked our pockets, but we didn't have any items aside from what we wore, and Harry's coat was suspiciously missing.

"If I recall," I muttered. "The human body can make it about an hour or two in this temperature, assuming it doesn't go lower."

"Sounds about right," Harry said glumly. "No chance we'll be dry enough by then to cast any spells, not with this going on."

He pointed at the ceiling, which constantly dripped onto our heads no matter what part of the container we stood in. We stared at each other in silence for a horrible second, and I was pretty sure we were both thinking the same thing.

Final curtain call.

"So who's the bastard we have to thank for this?" I asked.

"I'm so glad you asked, my sweet." A loud, nasal voice spoke and we both jerked, glancing up in one corner of the container to see some kind of wireless speaker attached.

"Name's Falamont. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Hello, Falamont," I said cheerfully. "Go fuck yourself."

The voice laughed. "Now, is that any way for a lady to speak?"

"I'll speak however the fuck I want to guy who tried to murder me."

"You, my dear, were an unfortunate innocent bystander in all of this, and I really do feel badly that things turned out this way. You're awful cute and you've got potential, but I needed an in."

I stood very still then. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, love. This isn't about you. It's about the wizard."

I shut my eyes for a second and then glanced at Harry to confirm it. The utter rage on his face, and his heavy breathing, confirmed it.

"I'm only gonna say this once," Harry snarled. "You're gonna open this container and you're gonna let her go, and we're gonna settle our account. You wanna kill me? Fine. Do it. She has nothing to do with it."

"Oh, but she does! You're a very hard man to kill, Dresden. But you do have a fatal flaw. You're one of the sad sacks in the world who actually has a heart."

"The fuck are you talking about?" he spat.

"See, here's the thing: when you fucked me over, it wasn't just about the money. I got nicked, and so I had to call in a favor with the Winter Court. Now I'm in their pocket, and I ain't ever gonna get out. So I decided that if I'm going down, I'm gonna take you with me, and I'm gonna do it nice and nasty. Imagine my surprise when I heard do-gooder Dresden got assigned to train the would-be Wardens. I found myself a contact who was none-too-shy about turning over the roster, and I went down the list. It's too bad you lost your little honeypot Susan, or she'd be the one I used to draw you in for the trap, but c'est la vie."

Falamont cleared his throat. "Which reminds me, Cassie, sweetheart. One thing you ought to know is that men are simple creatures. We have habits and we have types. And you, my dear, are exactly Dresden's type. Dark-haired, smart, sarcastic, talented. He can't resist them. I knew if I played my cards just right, I could fit you for the damsel in distress role, and get him into the game. But it wasn't about killing you, Dresden. No, I just wanted to let you dangle in the wind for a bit, thinking maybe you'd found someone special, and then I got to enjoy snatching her from you, and letting you know you're the reason both of you are going to die."

For a moment, I could see nothing but red. "Are you _fucking_ kidding me? I was _wizard bait?!_ "

"Sad to say that you are, babe. Nothing personal."

"You slimy, arrogant, chauvinistic, immature, psychotic lunatic!" I roared at the speaker. "Just wait, just you fucking wait, because I'm gonna get out of here, and I'm going to rip you to pieces so slowly that you'll forget your life was _ever_ anything except me killing you."

Falamont laughed. "Wow, Dresden. You sure can pick 'em, can't you?"

"Laugh it up, Falamont," Harry said, a deathly calm and quietness to his tone. It made me shiver, and it had nothing to do with the cold. "Because I'm going to get out of here, and I am going to help her rip you to pieces."

"Gotta love that ole Dresden spirit. I'm gonna miss it, buddy. It's been real, kids, but I've got to go. Stay cool." The speaker squawked, and I knew that the bastard had signed off for good.

Damning silence fell.

Then, I started laughing.

I couldn't stop. My ribs ached as it got louder, more frantic, and more unstable. "I can't...believe I'm gonna die...because I wanted to fuck my teacher."

I sniggered into my hand. "So, technically, I'm gonna die of _thirst_."

Harry let me laugh. Somewhere in the last gale of laughter, I could hear a sob. And as soon as he heard it, Harry drew me to him gently and wrapped his arms around me. He was only a little warmer than I was, probably on account of his size. He ran his frigid hands up and down my bare arms. It didn't do much, but at least it felt nice.

"Sorry," he muttered into my damp hair. "Hell's bells. I'm so goddamn sorry."

"Not your fault," I mumbled into his shirt. "Shoulda kept it in my pants."

I glanced up at him, smiling faintly. "But hey, glass half full, it's not every day your crush likes you back."

He smiled at me sadly. "It's a helluva thing, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I whispered. "Helluva thing."

We tried for a long amount of time to keep moving, keep trying to find spots with no running water, to keep enough energy going not to catch hypothermia, but it wasn't long before both of us were too sluggish to move. Harry's legs gave out first, and I wasn't about to let him go out like that, so I crawled into his lap and we huddled together as the last bits of warmth left us.

"It's not all bad," I said quietly. "This was the end goal, here, at least for me."

He half-coughed, half-laughed, his arms around my waist, squeezing me tightly to his chest. By now, most of my limbs were numb. My breaths were shallow. Everything in me had basically begun to shut down, and I wanted to sleep very badly. "Tell you a secret?"

"Might as well. It's not like I can repeat it to anybody."

Harry sighed and dropped his chin onto my hair. "I thought about it. More than once."

I smiled a little. "Good. Means you're still human."

It was getting tougher to breathe. I still tried. "Did you really think I was going to be a good Warden?"

"Damn good Warden," he whispered. "Never doubted it for a second."

"Mm. Thanks, Harry. That means a lot to me. Do you think it would have worked out between us, maybe later down the line?"

I could hear the smile in his voice. "Hell yeah, Sassy Cassie. I'd have rocked your world. And vice versa."

My eyes shut. "Yeah. Woulda been the stuff dreams are made of."

I drifted off, then, to go find those dreams.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it all over for Cassie and Harry?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OF COURSE IT ISN'T.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Fuck, what an annoying sound.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Ugh," I muttered angrily, and rolled over, pulling the pillow over my head to block out the noise so I could go back to sleep.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

"Shut up," I groaned.

Wait.

The fuck?

My eyes popped open. I was in a bed, and it wasn't mine, and it wasn't Harry's. The mattress was too thin. I yanked the pillow off my head and found myself staring down at a hospital bed. My clothes were gone, just a gown instead, and my bandages has been changed recently. The room was on the small side, not the ICU, though, just a regular recovery room for patients.

The beeping came from the heart monitor attached to me. I knew enough about myself medically to know I was within the normal rhythms, so I snapped it from my finger and shut the machine off. Then it hit me.

Harry.

For just a second, I couldn't think about anything else, and I noticed there was a curtain drawn around me, so I yanked it aside and spotted him in a matching bed beside me, out cold. I had no idea why, but I leapt out of my bed and hurried over, checking his heart monitor. Normal rhythms. Steady breathing.

"Thank fucking God," I breathed, dropping my head tiredly onto his shoulder. I didn't give two shits how we'd gotten here, just that we had, because I thought that had been it. The end.

"That's some wake up call," Harry's hoarse voice said in my ear. "Is that anyway to speak to your teacher?"

I chuckled as I lifted my head. "Oh, fuck off. What are you going to do? Give me detention?"

His dark eyes sparkled briefly, and I was quite glad the heart monitor wasn't attached anymore or he'd have heard how high it just skyrocketed. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? A little private lesson, hmm?"

I blushed and tried to play it off like that hadn't just sent a set of very good shivers down my noticeably naked spine. "I'm a straight A student. What could you possibly teach me, pray tell?"

Harry chuckled and pulled off his heart monitor as well, flipping it off as he sat up. "Pretty sure I could think or a thing or two. Or a hundred."

I shook my head. "Men. You almost died, and now all you can think about is getting laid."

"It does give a guy perspective," he said, shifting his legs over the side of the bed. I thought he was about to stand up, but he didn't; instead, he gripped a handful of my gown and tugged me forward until I stood between them.

"Like I almost died and didn't get to kiss you first," Harry whispered. "Kind of thinking about fixing that. You?"

I pretended to think about it. "Oh, I don't know. It is extremely immoral and against the rules."

"Uh-huh." He leaned down and kissed the side of my neck. I almost fell down. It was a miracle I remained standing after that.

"And anyone could walk in here at any second," I continued, trying my best to keep my voice from shaking and my knees from knocking together as he drifted to the other side of my neck, kissing it as well.

"Uh-huh."

"And don't you want to know who saved us?"

He kissed the spot under my right ear, and I was sure I died and went to heaven in that exact moment. "Uh-huh."

Harry rose to full height and hovered just outside of kissing distance, the smirk still fully intact, and there might as well not have been a planet earth because I couldn't look at anything but him. "But you haven't answered my question, Cassie."

"Oh," I whispered. "You asked for it, buddy."

I grabbed the front of his hospital gown and jerked him down to my height and laid one on him.

Jesus H. Christ tapdancing on a Ritz cracker.

Sometimes in life, there were things I'd wanted badly, and then I got them, and found myself at a loss of what to do, or dissatisfied with what I had built up in my head as the thing I wanted most.

This was so not one of them.

Kissing Harry Dresden was... _everything._

Somehow, the fact that both of us knew goddamn well we weren't supposed to mix just made it feel that much goddamn _better_. I drank in the softness of his lips, the rough scrape of his five o'clock shadow against my chin and cheek, the hot graze of his tongue against mine, the warmth and firmness of his chest as he wound his arms around me to pull me up against him, the ragged sound of our breathing when we separated for milliseconds of air. Electricity popped along my skin. Shuddering waves of pleasure rolled down my back. I shouldn't have done it. We shouldn't have done it. And yet I loved every single glorious second of kissing him.

_"A-hem."_

Someone cleared their throat. It came from the direction of the doorway. Blearily, I dragged my lips away from Harry to see Thomas standing there, his brows lifted, a smug smile on his face.

"I told you to put a sock on the doorknob, Harry," the White Court vampire simpered. "Now I feel rude."

Harry gave him a look that could fry a chicken. "Not now, Thomas."

He chuckled and pulled the door shut behind him as he stepped in, holding a clipboard. "Ah, I would give you two a moment, but we've got some pressing issues to deal with first."

"Such as?"

The smug smile stretched, and he glanced at me. "Like Cassie's mother, Warden Wright, is going to open that door in about ten seconds."

"Shit!" I leapt away from Harry, wiping my lips and trying to get my hair to look like he hadn't just been running his fingers through it.

Thomas chuckled. "Thought I'd give you fair warning. This is gonna be rough, though. She's a bit...tense."

As if on cue, the door burst open and my mother, Warden Ellen Wright, came barreling through it with hell in her brown eyes. "Dresden!"

He cleared his throat and gave her a cool nod. "Warden Wright."

"What in the hell did you get my daughter into?" she snarled. "And give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you anyway even after you explain it to me."

"Mom," I said calmly, with as much patience as possible. "Breathe."

"Don't tell me to breathe!" she hissed, whirling on me instead. "I found you almost frozen to death in this man's arms and you want me to breathe? I'll breathe when he's in front of a special tribunal for dragging you into this mess and almost getting you killed!"

"Mom," I said again. "I really don't think you want to do that."

"Oh, really?" she demanded, crossing her arms. "Why is that?"

"Because he's the only reason we're not both dead," I told her. "And I'm pretty sure you know that."

She narrowed her eyes at me and then glanced at Thomas. "You told her?"

"I didn't say anything," Thomas said. "Ma'am."

My mom seethed. "It doesn't change anything. You are out of line, Warden Dresden. Completely out of line, and I am going to make sure you pay for it."

"Mom," I continued. "I hired him to find out who tried to kill me. We found out who it was, and things went sideways. Nothing he has done is outside of policy."

"Hired him, my ass."

I glanced at Thomas. He offered her the clipboard in his hand with the paperwork on it that I'd asked him to have done not long before Harry and I got on the road to my apartment. My mom snatched it and read it over. The glaring just got worse. She slapped it back in his hand.

"Don't think I don't know you're in this together," she growled. "You can cover for each other now, but as of today, you are out of that Warden's course."

"You don't have the authority to do that," I said. "We both know it. I know you're worried, Mom. You should be. I screwed up, but he didn't. This was my problem, and we know who did it, so now all we have to do is find him and arrest him. If nothing else, I've just learned one hell of a lesson about the criminals I will be expected to apprehend if I pass the exam and become a Warden. If you want to blame someone, then blame me, not him. That's all there is to it."

She stared at me for a long while, still breathing hard, and cursed under her breath. "You are the most frustrating child on the planet earth."

"I'm your daughter," I said quietly. "Not a child. Big difference."

She worked her jaw. "Fine. But don't you forget it."

She aimed another glare at Harry. "Don't either of you forget it."

The door slammed behind her. Thomas arched an eyebrow at me. "So that's where it comes from?"

I threw my pillow at his head. He neatly ducked it, chuckling. "That went well. No wonder she's caught so many warlocks. She's terrifying."

"I warned you," I said. "Thanks for keeping the contract with you. We'd have been in even worse shape without it, trust me. You're a good older brother."

Thomas' eyes widened. "Ah, Harry?"

"Don't look at me," he said with a shrug. "I didn't tell her."

"I figured there was a reason you both had the same pendant," I elaborated. "Like the exact same pendant. I'm guessing that helped you find us after Toot Toot told you something went wrong at the hotel."

Thomas gave me a pleased look and nodded. "Harry said you were smart."

"Thank you," I said sincerely. "I'd give you a hug, but we both know I can't be trusted."

He chuckled. "It's the thought that counts."

Thomas faced his brother. "Harry, you're an idiot and you stress me out and as soon as no one's around, I'm going to punch you extremely hard."

Harry gave him a crooked grin. "Love you too."

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Warden Wright will be back for an official statement and to get you caught up on the investigation, so behave yourselves in the meantime."

I mimed having a halo and he snorted, shutting the door as he left. It took a tremendous amount of will power not to jump Harry again, but I made myself sit in my hospital bed like a good girl.

"So," Harry said casually. "You want to tell me about that daydream you had in my class, Sassy Cassie?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie and Harry go on the hunt for Falamont.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still fudging magic all over the place, pay me no mind.

"So," I asked after the last bite of pizza. "How do we catch this bastard?"

"First off," Harry said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Blah, blah, blah, Warden business, blah, blah, blah, you're not supposed to help me."

I lifted an eyebrow and he explained. "We both know that's what I'm supposed to say as a responsible Warden of the White Council. I also know that there's no point in telling you not to help because you'll do it behind my back anyway."

He smiled a bit. "And, frankly, I do need your help. Just needed to get that out of the way. While you were getting dressed, I made some calls. Turns out Falamont's ticked off a lot of people, one of which is in the Winter Court, and they didn't have a problem surrendering his current whereabouts."

I leaned forward eagerly. "Oh?"

"He's still in Chicago on another con. Figure we should give him a taste of his own medicine." Harry glanced at the door. "After, of course, we ditch the tail."

"Yeah," I sighed. "Figured Mom would do that. She can't help herself."

"She's justified," Harry admitted. "I have gotten you into a heap of trouble."

"I got myself into a heap of trouble," I corrected him. "You were the target, but I didn't help matters by running right into your arms after the Malk attack, so we're both to blame here. Don't get noble on me, Dresden."

"I'll try my best. Any suggestions on how to get her distracted?"

I snorted. "If she weren't my mother, I'd sic Thomas on her. But she's happily married and she's not a flirt like I am. I'm less than proud of it, but I did work out a decoy method as a rebellious teen. It's not sustainable for long, but I can project my image to make it look like I'm somewhere else. I'll go back to that hotel room we rented and that'll keep her or whoever she assigns to watch over me occupied for a bit. What's the plan after we ditch the tail?"

"Got an idea about how to neutralize him without putting ourselves right in the line of fire. I had to study up on the asshole when we were closing in on him, so I think we have a good shot at him."

I nodded and stood up from the small table in our shared hospital room. "I'll meet you at the hotel."

I left. Naturally, my mother was nowhere in sight, but I knew her. She didn't trust me after my tango with death--and I didn't blame her--and Ellen Wright wasn't a crappy wizard. If she didn't want to be seen, there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I'd told her about the room earlier during the recap about the investigation, and technically even though it had been hours, it was still rented under me via a fake name.

Once I arrived, I got to work setting up a few things and then cast the spell. She would have some way of checking up on me, and I only needed the visual, nothing substantial. The real test would be if she called the room phone and I didn't answer, but even that might not tip her off completely. After I got the illusion going, I masked the door to not show it opening or closing, and then cast a Veil. I headed outside to the sidewalk and kept an eye out until I saw a Hummer pull up alongside me. Well, no one else could see me, so that had to be my ride.

Harry leaned over in the backseat and popped the door open. "Your chariot awaits."

"Chariot," I snorted as I climbed in. "More like a tank. Jesus. Nice and subtle."

"Would you rather walk there?" Thomas asked snootily from the front seat, his glossy hair pulled back, one eyebrow raised at me as I dropped the Veil once we pulled into traffic.

"Just saying, pretty boy. You kind of stick out."

He gave me a little smug grin. "I thought you liked that about me, remember?"

Again, I was glad for my sienna skin; I flashed on that kiss, and blushed profusely. "Even I have lapses in judgment."

He chuckled and faced forward completely. We headed away from my side of town and Harry gave me the low down on the plan. Which, I had to say, I was quite a fan of after he laid it out.

Falamont's hideout was a shitty loft on the outskirts of town, in one of the rougher parts. He certainly wouldn't have to worry about being seen since half the characters in the area looked awful shifty. Harry had told me the guy had a serious rap sheet, everything from racketeering to grand larceny in both the normal world and the wizarding world. He was a crook down to his core, and just used magic as a means to an end. He had no sinister plan and not too many affiliations, as he burned bridges all the time from his activities. Just some self-centered prick who happened to have abilities.

Harry and I put the plan in place, and then popped out onto the fire escape to wait. By now, it was nightfall, giving us the cover of darkness. Thomas was on the street below for backup in case something went wrong. My phone had been recovered when they found me and Harry in the shipping container, and I had to rework the enchanted bracelet I wore that kept it from shorting out constantly. Harry had asked about it, naturally, and I'd told him it mainly worked for my level of skills. The stronger I became as a wizard, the less likely it would continue working, so it had a time limit. By the time I became a Warden, no more cell phone no matter how enchanted the bracelet. Them's the breaks.

"Does it happen a lot?" I asked after a stretch of silence between us.

"Hmm?" Harry asked.

"People trying to kill you."

He sighed. "Way more than I'd like. But to be fair, some of it has more to do with my cases rather than just being a wizard or a Warden."

"Did you ever get used to it?"

"Hell no," he said with complete honesty. "It's horrifying every time it happens."

I nodded. "Good. I'd be worried hanging out with someone who could brush it off."

"Keeps you sane. Keeps you safe, as a matter of fact. Life isn't short, but it is random as hell. You learn to appreciate it a lot more after something like this happens."

He regarded me a bit softly. "You want to talk about it?"

I shook my head. "No. Not yet. Maybe not at all. Dunno."

He studied me again, saying nothing, and then stood. He walked over to my side and sat next to me, not too close, but enough to provide a small amount of comfort. I appreciated it. After a moment or so, he stretched his arm out over the railing behind my head.

I giggled. "Did you just do a Yawn-and-Reach?"

"Hey," he said. "I'm trying to be sensitive here."

"I'm fine. I'll let you know if anything changes."

He grunted in agreement. We listened to Chicago. Honks and sirens. Wind. Music. Chatter from tenants. I eventually felt comfortable enough to lay my head back on his arm. He still smelled nice, like leather and faint remains of cologne. I wanted to move closer, into the shelter of his touch. I shouldn't still have wanted that, but I did.

"Should we talk?" I whispered.

"If you want to."

I shut my eyes and tried not to sigh. "This can't happen, obviously. Not now, anyway. I hate it. A lot."

"Mm," he said. "Me too."

"Bad timing, isn't it?"

"That's exactly what it is."

I smiled faintly. "That's why they call them crushes. If they were easy, they'd be called something else."

" _Sixteen Candles_ , huh?" he mused. "Didn't figure you for the romantic teen-comedy type."

"I'm full of mysteries, Mr. Dresden."

Time went on. "I meant what I said, you know."

I risked a glance up at him. "Hmm?"

He smiled. "You are fantastic on the eyes."

I blushed again. "Oh."

"It seems to me like maybe you don't hear that enough and it's a shame."

I shrugged. "I'm socially awkward. Maybe I'd hear it more often if I went out more."

He snorted. "Going out is overrated. Ask Thomas."

"You don't want to know what I want to ask Thomas."

He rolled his eyes and I chuckled. "Kidding. Don't tell me you're the jealous type."

"Not entirely. I just get testy with how much attention he gets."

I chewed my lower lip. I fiddled with the hem of my shirt and cleared my throat. "I had a fantasy you ate me out on your desk that day in class."

Harry went totally still next to me. "Uh, _wow_."

"Yeah," I said, cheeks burning so hot I was surprised I didn't glow in the dark like a cartoon character. "Point being, don't sell yourself short. Ever. Trust me, looks aren't everything."

"I will definitely keep that in mind from now on." His chest and shoulder shook a bit with suppressed laughter. "On the desk, Cassie? Even for you, that's a bit much."

I smacked his leg. "Shut up. You're not allowed to make fun when I paid you a compliment."

"Well, if we're gonna talk about compliments, I almost had a heart attack that day you wore that purple skirt to class."

I tried my hardest not to smile in victory. "Oh, so that worked?"

"Goddamn right it worked," he grumbled. "It took five years off my life not to stare."

"You hid it well."

"Yeah, you can thank my years of repression for that."

I choked. "Repression?"

"Long story," he said in resignation. "I've had some...doozies in the past. Makes a guy cautious, bordering on paranoid."

"That's a shame," I said, and meant it. "Maybe I don't have the whole picture, but you seem great, honestly. Any woman would be lucky to have you."

Harry gave me a fond, but sad smile. "Too bad I don't want just any woman."

My heart went knick-knack-patty-whack at that and it became that much harder not to give into the urge to climb into his lap and kiss the living daylights out of him.

Fortunately, that was when Falamont decided to try to get into his hideout.

We both jumped to our feet as we heard a zap and a yelp. Harry darted through the window, his blasting rod out in one hand, and I followed close by, ready to back him up. We spilled into the narrow hallway to find that my spell had worked perfectly.

Harry and I strolled over to the floored, prostrate Falamont, who was encased in a block of ice from his feet all the way up to his neck. "Well, well, well. How's it going, Falamont? Is everything..."

Harry lifted an eyebrow and gave the warlock a shit-eating grin. "...cool?"

"Fuckin' Dresden!" Falamont snarled, but he couldn't move anything but his head. "You sorry sack of shit! I should've killed you when I had the chance!"

"Shoulda, coulda, woulda," Harry said, idly kicking the three feet of ice just to be sure it was solid. "Didn't, asshole."

Harry's smile widened. "Besides, you're not giving credit where credit is due."

Falamont's beady eyes flicked over to me and I curtsied. "Think it's okay to mess with people's wards? Thought I'd just return the favor."

"Bitch," he growled. "Just wait 'til I get out of this. The shit I'm gonna do to you--"

I lashed my foot across his cheekbone. His head rocked back, hard enough to smack the floor, and blood dripped from one corner of his mouth. God, had it felt good.

I smiled down at the bastard. "Stay cool, Falamont."

We left him there on the floor, and then went to call the Wardens.

* * *

Later that night, after Falamont was in the Wardens' custody and the report carefully excluding me had been filed, Harry walked me up to my apartment just to be sure there wasn't anything still hanging around as a threat. I tried to pretend it felt nothing like the end of a date.

We inspected the place top to bottom, but didn't see any further signs of tampering. My place was indeed my place again.

"So," I said, hands on my hips. "It's over?"

"Appears to be," Harry said.

"What now? We go back to the way things were?"

He nodded. "As much as we can, anyway. Hopefully, they won't try something stupid like yanking you from my class if Falamont runs his mouth about his great plan."

"Fingers crossed. Thank you."

He shook his head. "Don't thank me. Couldn't have done this without you."

I smiled then. "Yes, you could have, but I made it more fun."

He chuckled. "Right."

I took my ponytail down and fluffed my hair out a bit, just needing something to do with my hands as the air got a little tense. My mouth ran away without checking in again. "Hypothetically speaking...if I finished this course and took the Warden's exams and passed them, and neither of us were in a romantic relationship by the time I was official...exactly how would that go?"

"I think," Harry said in a tone not unlike a purr, and goosebumps marched right down my spine as soon as I heard it. "It might go a little something like this."

He kissed me, but that wasn't all. Those big hands settled on my waist and then I was airborne for a few seconds, landing neatly on the counter beside us, which put me much more level with him. He took advantage of the surprised gasp that left me, chasing after my tongue and catching it. I shuddered and pulled him down to me with my arms, letting my fingers slide up into that thick, dark hair like I'd been wanting to do for ages. He stepped between my knees and delicious friction rubbed against my chest, my stomach, my pelvis. God help me, it'd been way too long since I'd made out with anyone, and it was just as fantastic as I remembered.

His calloused fingertips slipped underneath my t-shirt and I couldn't help but moan at the pleasant roughness against my bare skin, right over my waist. Harry sighed, a low growl in the sound, and a simmering wave of need spilled through me. My thoughts scattered to the wind. Somewhere deep down, I knew I was the forbidden fruit, and that he couldn't have a bite, not now, but I was sorely tempted to let him. I'd missed being wanted. Needed on some level.

Better still, when my own hands wandered under his shirt, he actually purred against my lips, like a big cat, as I let my fingers drag down over his abs. My eyes nearly rolled back. Good Lord, he was killing me. I explored his upper torso, finding scars in certain places on his hot skin and wondering what stories were behind them. His hands slipped back down, squeezing my hips en route to my thighs, and the firm weight through my jeans drove me crazy. I knew if he touched me anywhere else, we'd both be done for.

Harry reached the same conclusion that I did, breaking from my lips enough to lean his forehead to mine and ground out, "God, I don't want to stop."

"Me neither," I breathed. "Stupid timing."

"Yeah," he agreed, his jaw clenched. He lifted his hand to the side of my face and kissed me gently this time, savoring it, as did I. Then he smiled and stepped back, those dark eyes sparkling with good humor and mischief.

"Study hard, Sassy Cassie. Earn that extra credit."

I laughed before I could stop myself. "You have my word, Mr. Dresden."


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All's well that ends well. Or so Cassie hopes.

"Before I hand out the midterm, I want to address a rumor that you may have all heard by now," Harry said, leaning his palms back against the desk as he stared around the classroom. "Yes, I am a stunt double for Hugh Jackman."

Titters went around the class, and he smiled a little before continuing. "There was an altercation with a warlock by the name of Falamont. He's a mid-level thief and con man who's been about halfway down on the Most Wanted list for a few years, and he's been caught, this time for good. Once the report comes out, I would advise you to all take a look, as it's good preparation material for some of the dangers you'll be facing out there."

Harry's smile then turned a bit sharp. "You also might be noticing our friend Mr. Carter is no longer with us. Well, in case you're wondering, Mr. Carter thought it would be a good idea to consort with Falamont for a quick and easy chance to remove me from this teaching position. For good. So unfortunately, we will be without his charming presence for the remainder of the course. I know you all can't see it, but I'm hurting on the inside. From laughing so hard."

The class cheered, and a few people actually clapped. Carter really hadn't been a popular fellow among us. "I won't be taking questions on the case, but one thing I wanted to pass on is that things come at you sideways as a Warden. It's not enough to be prepared. You have to know where to look when trouble comes your way. Sometimes the problem isn't what you think it is. I also encourage you to build relationships with one another. Sometimes it's who you know that helps you survive out there."

He lifted the stack of papers and gave us a little salute. "Good luck."

Harry passed out the midterm exam, and butterflies filled my stomach in a swarm. This was the first big step in the direction of becoming a Warden. Of getting closer to my goal. Of being able to do what I felt I was put on this earth to do.

"Cassie," he said warmly as he handed me the papers.

"Thank you."

Harry glanced surreptitiously around the room to make sure no one was watching and then gave me a little wink before he moved on. I blushed and smiled like a complete dope, and instantly, the butterflies in my stomach flew away.

Like magic.

* * *

**Six months later...**

My doorbell rang as I was applying eye-liner. Frowning, I tugged my robe closed and checked the peephole.

I opened the door with a look of dismay. "Harry, you're early."

"Now, now," he fussed. "Warden Cassie. Part of your intensive training was about expecting the unexpected."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, like unexpected egos and wizards who don't know how to follow simple instructions, such as, 'My place at nine o'clock.'"

Harry grinned, something playful in it that made my already butterfly-riddled stomach even more frantic with anticipation. "Got to keep you on your toes."

I sighed and held the door the rest of the way open for him. "Why? You're just going to step all over them anyway."

He loped his way inside and I locked it behind him. I hadn't seen him in a couple months, but he looked just the same as always: a little disheveled, but still in one piece. He hadn't dressed up, thank God, or I'd have probably fainted dead away. He looked good enough in t-shirts and jeans. I wasn't sure I could handle him in a suit, cheap or otherwise. Instead, he had a navy button-up shirt and jeans and sneakers, and the simple ensemble suited him. I was relieved he hadn't done anything corny like bring me flowers. The gesture was sweet, but I did not have a green thumb and the poor plants would be doomed in my foolish hands.

"Well, make yourself comfortable because I'm not ready, obviously," I said, gesturing to the robe.

Harry rubbed his chin as he appraised me. "I don't know. You do look good in anything. Maybe you could rock the robe and fuzzy slippers look."

I groaned. "Stop. If you start in on the compliments, I'm going to ditch you for the night."

He held his hands up in surrender. "I'm just saying that while the effort is certainly appreciated, it's not entirely necessary. You don't have to get all dolled up on my account."

"Uh-huh," I said, a hand on my hip. "Just admit it. You wanted to sneak a peek at the goods by arriving early, didn't you?"

"I am offended by the very notion, madam." He then made an obvious glance down at my cleavage. I laughed and hit him in the arm, blushing up a storm. I should have known better; I'd given him just the right opening to catch me off-guard. He caught my wrist and tugged me in close. My pulse rocketed into the millions as his scent surrounded me, as did his arms. He rubbed the small of my back in gentle circles as he leaned down to my height, his voice like warm caramel in my ears.

"Missed you," he murmured, as if saying it too loud were scary somehow. "Is that weird to say?"

I shook my head and licked my lips, trying my best not to stare at his in the process. "No, I...did too. It's been a while, Harry. You look good."

"And you look fantastic, Warden Cassie." His dark eyes glittered with a mix of pride and lust, and they sent a shuddering wave of goosebumps rushing down my back. Somehow, the title rolled off the tongue beautifully when he said it. I suddenly felt regal and powerful. I'd worked hard. I'd earned it.

And while it might've been a stupid, pretentious thought, maybe I'd earned him too.

I really, really wanted to kiss him, and there was nothing stopping me but me, so I lifted up onto my toes and kissed him. I'd meant it to be more of a 'hello, welcome back' kiss.

That ain't what happened.

This kiss was more of a 'I am going to suck your soul out through your mouth' kind of kiss.

I certainly hadn't forgotten the last time I'd kissed him, but wow. Maybe since we'd both agreed to go out, neither of us felt the need to have any restraint or pretend that we weren't into each other. Harry's arms slipped around me, bringing me up against the heat of his chest, and I damn near melted. He didn't fight to dominate the kiss, like some men I'd known before. He matched my energy, tasting and teasing with his tongue, and that somehow just revved my engine even further. I wanted more, so much more, my head swimming with thoughts of just what I'd like to do to him right now and vice versa.

It wasn't until I felt the hard ridge of Harry's cock pressing into my abdomen that I even tried to come up for air. "Any chance you can cancel that dinner reservation?"

Harry groaned, still as unwilling as I was to pull away, his voice throaty with arousal. "That would be...irresponsible. Goes against my gentlemanly upbringing."

"How so?"

"I'm supposed to treat you like a lady."

"Right. I'm definitely a lady." I rocked my hips up against the upper part of his thigh and he growled, biting my lower lip.

"Cassie," he said in warning, his dark eyes filled with conflicting things, and all of them only strengthened the rampant lust shooting through my veins like heroin.

"We're consenting adults, Harry. Not everything has to be by the book. And from what I can tell, it's been a while for both of us."

He sighed. "God, you have no idea. But that doesn't mean I should...we should...you know. Give in."

I shook my head a bit in disbelief. "You told me you were repressed, but still. I'm a modern woman, Harry, and I'm not as shy as I seem."

I kissed the side of his cheek, near his jaw, whispering, "You want me. You can have me, Harry. I want you just as much."

"Hell's bells, woman," he breathed, and then seized me around the waist. He lifted me like I weighed nothing and headed for the nearest surface, which happened to be the island counter of my kitchen.

And when he kissed me this time, I knew dinner was officially off the table.

I hadn't realized just how much Harry had been holding back before, until he kissed me again. He kissed me as if I were his sustenance, as if I were fresh water after 30 days in a desert, as if everything he wanted and needed was just me and nothing else. My eyes almost rolled back in my head from the delirious pleasure of those soft lips on mine, his tongue lashing my mouth open to taste me. My body reacted immediately to his touch; before I even consciously realized it, I'd pushed off his leather coat and had started unbuttoning his shirt. Harry undid the belt to my robe and pulled the wool aside, finding me in just a plain black Victoria's Secret set of bra and panties beneath it. He pulled back enough to let his hot gaze rake down my bare skin, and goosebumps broke out over me as I saw him take me in.

"Fuck," he rasped, and that was enough reaction for me. He pushed the robe the rest of the way off of me and wrapped his fingers around my throat. I wasn't sure why until he flattened me against the counter and held me down, his baritone voice utterly commanding. "Stay."

I licked my slightly swollen lips and nodded. "Yes sir."

Harry shuddered, his pupils dilating even further, and then lowered his mouth to my collarbone. I bit my lip to stifle a moan as his lips passed over my clavicle and headed for my cleavage. He ran his hands down my sides as he traveled over my breasts, his five o'clock shadow scraping oh-so gently over my bare skin, making me restless with the need for more. He kissed my sternum, the spot underneath where the bra clasped, making a path of wet kisses along the center of my stomach. My breathing got ragged as he passed my navel down to where the panties started, and I fought to keep still as his mouth neared my aching core.

He peeled off my underwear in one go and then finished unbuttoning his shirt from where I'd started it. He slid out of it completely, and I almost died on the spot from the sight of his chest, exactly how I'd pictured it: lithe, lean muscles, not overtly defined, but belaying so much strength and power. I expected him to go for his jeans next, but he didn't. He pushed my knees apart and then gave me a truly wicked smile.

"Cassie," he said in a sing-song voice. "What was it you said you were daydreaming about in my class?"

I stared up at him, and then blushed like a schoolgirl. Oh, shit. I didn't think he'd...was he about to...oh, _shit_. "Uh, I, uh, I don't remember."

"Really?" Harry said as he ran those big hands up and down the outside of my thighs. "I seem to recall it was something to the effect of me eating you out on top of my desk."

Holy. _Fucking_. Shit. I was speechless for a few seconds. It's not every day your crush just up and decides to fulfill your deepest, darkest fantasy. "T-That may or may not have been what it was."

"And," he said, slowly, deliberately, propping my legs up on his shoulders. "What would you say if I decided to indulge you?"

"Um," I answered, swallowing hard. "I-I'd have to say I'm okay with it."

"Good," he murmured. "Because I've been thinking about doing this to you since the night we caught Falamont."

Jesus H. Christ. I wasn't going to survive him. Not ever.

He sunk towards me then, my legs tilting back automatically the closer he got, and I was shaking with anticipation long before he even touched me. He stopped about an inch shy of my slick opening, and just blew a very gentle, warm current of air over me. I couldn't take it. I covered my burning face with both hands. If I watched him do this, I'd die on the spot.

Harry chuckled softly at my reaction. Bastard.

And then he touched me.

Oh.

Hell's _fucking_ bells.

Apparently, Mr. Dresden had graduated valedictorian of pussy-eating college.

I'd had a few boyfriends in the past. Serviceable boyfriends. None of them were much good at it, even with my instructions, so I'd often left it off the table when I had sex with my partners. I could do with some teasing, but truthfully, that had been why I'd had that fantasy about Harry in my class. Like a lot of women, I'd longed for a boyfriend who paid attention and knew what to do, how to do it, and enjoyed it. That sort of thing wasn't a default with men. It had to be a preference in order for both parties to get something out of it, and I wasn't about to foist it on a guy if he didn't like it.

Harry liked it.

He liked it a _lot_.

He started out just getting a feel for me, with slow, inquisitive licks against the outer petals, and then gauging my reaction. I strangled the first moan as best as I could from behind my hands. Pleasure streaked through my veins immediately, and just made me even wetter than before, much to my complete and utter shame. He drew the tip of his tongue up the center, more getting a taste than anything else, and then allowed his lips to press against my clit in a slow kiss. I shivered from head to toe, and my breathing got louder in my ears. I heard him smack his lips and let out a pleased sigh, and then he dove in for seconds. Hell, seconds, thirds, fourths, just an entire buffet. He lapped against my inner walls, cupping my thighs in his hands, and the rough, wet heat of his tongue drove me insane. My nerves burned with pleasure as he worked, patient, determined, and skillful. I tried to smother myself silent, but it didn't work. I could hear myself mumbling, "oh God, oh God, fuck, yes, Harry" on every odd breath. I drowned in utter delight as he licked and sucked and teased me with light nibbles in just the right spots.

He rumbled against my pussy at the sound of my encouragement, the vibrations running up my body and stimulating my clit. I yelped and couldn't help grabbing a fistful of that thick, dark hair, directing him towards it, and he obliged me. His lips swept over my spot, his tongue following suit, and then he just sucked over it gently. I cried out, trying to muffle it with my other hand, but my spine arched to push my hips further into him, needing the friction. I didn't exactly need the neighbors knowing I was getting my soul sucked out of me right now, after all.

"God, Harry, oh God, oh fuck, you have to stop or I'm gonna come," I gasped out finally, sending him a pleading look as he zeroed in on my clit like nothing else in the world mattered. He tilted his head enough to meet my gaze, his lips curling up in a smirk.

"Did you come in your daydream, Cassie?"

I shook my head. "N-No, you woke me up before I...you know."

"Then I have to make up for it, don't I?"

He was going to give me a fucking heart attack, I just knew it.

"Besides," Harry drawled, licking his lips. "You want to come, don't you, Cassie?"

I wanted to protest, I really did, but he chose that exact moment to carefully slip two fingers inside me, and all words evaporated out of my head, except for one. _"God!"_

Harry returned his mouth to my clit and moved his fingers in and out of me in steady surges, not too hard, not too soft, just right, just hitting every little nook and cranny he could find so that I was a complete and utter mess in a matter of seconds. My legs clamped down over his shoulders, my thighs closing around his head, and I let go at long last.

I came on his mouth, his fingers, my body undulating as the pleasure reached its peak inside me and burned through my veins. The world drained out of my eyes and ears and I just floated off into the ether on the wings of warm, decadent ecstasy.

God only knows how long I was gone. I eventually returned from paradise to find Harry standing at his full height again, patiently waiting for me with my legs still up on his shoulders, his hands stroking my hips to help me return to awareness.

I finally got my glazed eyes to focus on his face, and my mouth ran off again before I could stop it. "Marry me."

Harry laughed. It was a lovely, rolling sound like thunder in the night sky in summertime. I absolutely loved it to death. "I'll think it over."

"Seriously, how the hell are you even single when you can do... _that_ , for God's sake."

"Well, it's not like I can put it on a business card."

"You should," I insisted. "I'll help you design one after we're through here."

"Much appreciated." He chewed one corner of his lower lip for a second as he stared down at me, and softened his tone. "You sure about this?"

Bless him, he was still uncertain. I wanted to slap whatever women had instilled this kind of insecurity in him, that he was undesirable, or that he could be abandoned at any moment.

I sat up and brought him down to me, one hand on either side of his face. I kissed him passionately, thoroughly, waiting until he was breathless before I spoke. "Yes, I'm sure."

His shoulders relaxed. "Okay."

Harry undid his jeans and nicked a condom from his wallet. Gold star for him; he'd come prepared, even if he hadn't intended for this to happen on a first date. I received my second present of the night, which was what lay waiting underneath his boxers. Merciful God. It wasn't like I was some kind of expert, but the man had one hell of a nice cock. I knew he wouldn't have any trouble getting it on, but I wordlessly did it for him, smiling the whole time, just a gesture of reassurance. He kissed me, and I felt the appreciation behind it.

He pushed me back down flat to the counter and lifted my legs to wrap around him. His fingers stroked the column of my throat as he kissed me and aligned our bodies. I bit his lower lip as the latex of the condom rubbed over my opening, unable to keep from moaning, "God, yes, Harry, please."

He filled me, slow, steady, and delicious. I hissed and dug my nails into his shoulders, my breath driven from my lungs as all the familiar sensations of sex flooded back to me and singed my nerve endings. I felt like I was a meteor entering the earth's atmosphere, burning up on reentry, all fire and starlight. He was anything but small, and I was a tight fit for him, but somehow it was still everything I wanted.

Harry sighed into my mouth, wistfully, and then ground out, "You okay?"

"Fantastic," I mumbled as the heat of his body against mine sent wave after wave of lethargic heaven hurtling through my skin. God, I'd missed the way this felt, to be wanted.

"Good," he whispered. He straightened up most of the way, but left his hand lightly gripping my throat. I whined as he withdrew his cock from me, but then moaned in elation as he slipped in again. I wiggled my hips against his pelvis and he shivered, squeezing my throat gently.

"Don't make me put you over my knee," Harry warned. I giggled hoarsely, drunkenly, and repeated the gesture.

"You can't threaten me with a good time," I told him, and then pulled his hand up enough to suck his thumb inside my mouth.

Apparently, that was one of Harry's Go Buttons.

He slid his other hand down to my ass, giving it a firm squeeze as he pulled it up towards him, and then he fucked me like a wild animal on the counter.

"Harry!" was all I could get out before the pleasure assaulted my senses and completely ripped any semblance of control out of my grasp. God, _yes_. The two points of control on my throat and on my ass did things to me that I'd never experienced before. I couldn't move, and yet, it made me wet with the knowledge that he was completely in control of my body. His cock burrowed into my slippery walls time and time again, a red-hot point of pure ecstasy that had me moaning his name. Somehow, he knew just how to move, how to find my most vulnerable spot and pound it like he owned me. I scrambled to find something to hold onto, eventually lifting my arms over my head and clutching the edge of the counter to keep from losing it. Every thrust unraveled me further and further. Every low groan that spilled from him rocked me to my core. Every audible slap of damp skin on skin just pushed me further and further towards the cliff of my orgasm.

I knew I was close when my thighs trembled around his waist and I couldn't stop bucking into him, riding the frantic rhythm of his hips, helping that cock reach deeper, wanting as much of it as I could possibly take. I slid my hand between my thighs enough to add much needed pressure against my clit, but a second later, Harry caught my wrist and pulled it away.

"Harry," I whimpered, but it turns out I didn't need to; a second later, his hand relocated from my ass to just above my pelvis. He spread his fingers out, holding me down, and then pressed the flat of his thumb down over my clit. Sharp flickers of pleasure shot through me, each stroke sweeter than the last, and I felt my inner walls closing in around the hard, unrelenting column of his cock. His other hand wrapped around my waist and he circled his hips, no longer withdrawing, just creating furious figure-eights inside me until I couldn't take it any more.

"God, Harry, fuck, right there, please, Harry, oh--!" I melted around him at last, putty in his hands, as my climax exploded inside me. I grabbed at his forearms as my head rolled back and I moaned all the air out of my lungs as the heavenly cataclysm of the orgasm dragged me down into its depths.

Above me, Harry hissed out my name and followed me over the precipice, riding me through the orgasm and into his own. He pitched forward with a rumbling growl, propping himself up on one elbow, his sweaty forehead dropping onto my neck. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his hair, eyes shut, sinking deeper and deeper into the embrace of his sex.

"Hell's bells," Harry whispered hoarsely some indeterminable time later. "That was _so_ worth the wait."

I chuckled just as hoarsely and ruffled his messy hair fondly. "Good things always are."

Harry pushed up enough to kiss me, lifting an eyebrow playfully. "Is there a pizza place that'll deliver here?"

"Hmm," I said, feigning innocence. "Maybe. Why?"

"Give me five minutes to cancel the dinner reservation. We're staying in tonight. That alright with you, Warden Cassie?"

I grinned as I tugged him down for another kiss. "Damn right, Warden Dresden."

FIN


End file.
